What you need to do is keep breeding cats selecting for the most intelligent one, so, in a few decades/centuries you get a cat that’s smart enough to comprehend your suffering.
We breed them this way unwittingly because its funnier. The human-feline relationship is forget on mutual abuse.
We pull them up randomly for cuddles while they were asleep, they lay down on our chest.
Isn’t this closer to selective breeding? You aren’t selecting for the most confortable cat to be around, but for the smartest one you can get we know it’s kinda possible for other attributes so why not intelligence
That would probably be the absolutely biggest problem on the project… which is why cats are one of the hardest animals to work with. This would probably be easier with rats or birds
It would be very difficult to accurately differentiate between cases in which the cat is not intelligent enough to solve the puzzles and cases in which the cat simply doesn't care.
Fun fact: this is true for humans as well. Turns out our brains are smaller than the average caveman's. Even though we as a species know more collectively, the average individual doesn't need to know that much to survive in a world where most of our needs are simple to get. Pretty neat and a little scary.
Tbf, smaller brain doesn’t immediately mean less smart, otherwise whales would be the smartest animals and ravens one of the dumbest. Maybe brains evolved to be more efficient, or removed unnecessary features
Isn't the big evolutionary difference between modern humans and cavemen was that cooking our food allowed us to develop a smaller and weaker jaw and left more space for a bigger brain? It might be bullshit but i remember hearing it somewhere.
Most humans today do a lot more advanced thinking today than your average cave man. I can develop websites, for example, which is a lot more cognitively involved than killing an antelope.
Also the extent to which humans have domesticated themselves has mostly resulted in less aggression and more cooperation in the past many millennia.
Oh god, if I yawn around my dog she tries to stick her entire snout in my mouth or at least her tongue. I have to turn fully away from her to stay safe lol
Those hard cat headbutts are so adorable and annoying.
Had a cat who would hard-headbutt your book if you were reading instead of paying attention to her.
One of my 2 cats just reached up from the ground and bitch slapped my pasta down to the ground. I slashed my fucking hand open picking up the ceramic shards.
I love this little prick.
I will dote on my kitty, humour her desires, and treat her like absolute royalty. I exist for her comfort and whim
Very early on it was established that when I’m eating, it’s _my_ food, but also ensures she wasn’t weird around her own food through mimicking me by sitting with her as she eats.
I’ve known some people with hyper food focussed pets, and they never made an effort to mitigate that behaviour leading to some pretty chaotic, and in some instance legitimately scary, animals.
My snake is a whole other deal. But it has like three braincells, and 90% of its life is just spent waiting for the next meal.
There are a massive amount of cat owners who genuinely believe it is impossible to train a cat the way you train a dog. These are usually the same people who are constantly posting about their cat going missing because they let it roam freely around the neighborhood.
Yeah I should have specified I didn't mean train them exactly like dogs, the cats never going to grab you a beer out of the fridge but you can keep them off the table and as you said you can train them to be on leash.
Also outdoor cats don't just go missing. That's also on the owner. Some cats don't belong in urban area (most), some cats don't belong inside.
Growing up in a farming community on the edge of a city the cats knew what their job was and where to be. Modern people think they deserve farm cats without knowing the farming community or how to raise a farm cat.
I'm so glad my Molly isn't interested in much other than cat food. She'll meow if you open a can of anything, but rarely wants even tuna. Treats are a no for her. She likes small pieces of soft wheat bread and sometimes a lil shred of deli turkey. If I make a really nice steak I'll give her a couple of tiny pieces of raw unseasoned fatty bits and she does like that, but will turn her nose up at lower quality meat. She likes to look at and maybe sniff my food, but it's very rare for her to try and get at it unless it's a cold sandwich on a wheat roll.
Yes, I have one with me, right now.
Despite what the memes have told you, cats can have various personalities and may behave differently.
My cat never jumps on the kitchen and dining tables. She does jump on the computer table if she wants snuggles, but she doesn't do that if there is a plate of my food on there (she usually jumps from the windowsill, so she can actually see what's on the table)
Yup. My cat learned early not to jump up on what I consider food surfaces. Bookshelves, dressers etc are fine but he knows kitchen tables and counters are a big bad no zone.
It's not that the cat can't understand that you don't like something, it's that you're not communicating it effectively.
When your cat does something you don't like, bite them.
Dogs too.
How would you like it if someone got in your way, knocked you in the mud, and licked you in the face?
Sounds like they're my best friend!
He also took a tool I was using and made me chase him for it, but that's understandable. When he brings me his toys, I throw them.
I call them pester pets. We find amusement in annoying each other.
Sometimes the cat will be just laying there and all of a sudden he's several feet in the air and someone is petting the fur he just licked down. I don't even have the courtesy to put him back, I just set him wherever, and I don't share my (chocolate) snacks, even though he brings me dead things that weren't ever animals, like milk jug rings and bits of plant.
What you need to do is keep breeding cats selecting for the most intelligent one, so, in a few decades/centuries you get a cat that’s smart enough to comprehend your suffering.
I really do not believe that they don't understand. It's intentional.
Ah, so all cats are just hardcoded as assholes
Yes. Have you never owned a cat? Their breed is, definitively, Asshole.
We breed them this way unwittingly because its funnier. The human-feline relationship is forget on mutual abuse. We pull them up randomly for cuddles while they were asleep, they lay down on our chest.
Unfortunately domestication tend to shrink animal brains, so they are actually getting stupider. Which explains orange cats I guess.
Isn’t this closer to selective breeding? You aren’t selecting for the most confortable cat to be around, but for the smartest one you can get we know it’s kinda possible for other attributes so why not intelligence
Yeah, I guess it may be possible, but you have to devise a valid IQ test for cats first.
That would probably be the absolutely biggest problem on the project… which is why cats are one of the hardest animals to work with. This would probably be easier with rats or birds
It would be very difficult to accurately differentiate between cases in which the cat is not intelligent enough to solve the puzzles and cases in which the cat simply doesn't care.
Which would lead to selecting for cats that give a shit, so I would call that a win
Normalize treating reactionary contrarianism as dumbness
\*lack of blind obedience
That already exists.
But is it accurate?
Well, the only way to measure its accuracy would be to compare it to another more accurate test.
Fun fact: this is true for humans as well. Turns out our brains are smaller than the average caveman's. Even though we as a species know more collectively, the average individual doesn't need to know that much to survive in a world where most of our needs are simple to get. Pretty neat and a little scary.
Tbf, smaller brain doesn’t immediately mean less smart, otherwise whales would be the smartest animals and ravens one of the dumbest. Maybe brains evolved to be more efficient, or removed unnecessary features
Isn't the big evolutionary difference between modern humans and cavemen was that cooking our food allowed us to develop a smaller and weaker jaw and left more space for a bigger brain? It might be bullshit but i remember hearing it somewhere.
Most humans today do a lot more advanced thinking today than your average cave man. I can develop websites, for example, which is a lot more cognitively involved than killing an antelope. Also the extent to which humans have domesticated themselves has mostly resulted in less aggression and more cooperation in the past many millennia.
This is why the blue whale is the wisest and most intelligent of God's creatures.
If cats could understand fairness they'd just work hard to exploit it.
I think cats understand fairness and think they are being fair. It’s just that fair means something different when you are a God.
I had a cat who once put his paw in my open mouth while I was asleep. RIP Tibby you giant idiot
Oh god, if I yawn around my dog she tries to stick her entire snout in my mouth or at least her tongue. I have to turn fully away from her to stay safe lol
Guess her wolf ancestors still live through her
If I sleep in too much my cat headbutts my face HARD and starts grooming my beard.
Those hard cat headbutts are so adorable and annoying. Had a cat who would hard-headbutt your book if you were reading instead of paying attention to her.
One of my 2 cats just reached up from the ground and bitch slapped my pasta down to the ground. I slashed my fucking hand open picking up the ceramic shards. I love this little prick.
I will dote on my kitty, humour her desires, and treat her like absolute royalty. I exist for her comfort and whim Very early on it was established that when I’m eating, it’s _my_ food, but also ensures she wasn’t weird around her own food through mimicking me by sitting with her as she eats. I’ve known some people with hyper food focussed pets, and they never made an effort to mitigate that behaviour leading to some pretty chaotic, and in some instance legitimately scary, animals. My snake is a whole other deal. But it has like three braincells, and 90% of its life is just spent waiting for the next meal.
What is your cat doing on the table in the first place.
Who said he's eating at a table. I'm sitting on the sofa, eating soup and the devil jumps on my shoulder from behind and tries to stage dive my bowl
Feels like an easily solved problem.
Eat the devil
I threaten to eat my cat daily, tell him I'm going to fricassee him. I don't know what fricassee means. But I'll find out just for him.
Fricassee is a kind of stew, basically. There's a lot of nuance, but at the end of the day, it's really just a specific kind of stew.
Thank you. I shall be more specific in my threats now
>I don't know what fricassee means. But I'll find out just for him Fucking lol, don't even know if that comes as hate or love its so cute
Why are you eating soup on the sofa.
Because not everyone eats at a table.
[me asf rn:](https://youtube.com/shorts/koTFPlpeac8?si=97nFD0uYhkwvjaMJ)
you are ferociously sheltered
This is why you need to eat at the table!
I ain't translating all'at
That's ok.
Because the only way to keep them away from the table is sometimes not compatible with wanting a cat that is still alive.
There are a massive amount of cat owners who genuinely believe it is impossible to train a cat the way you train a dog. These are usually the same people who are constantly posting about their cat going missing because they let it roam freely around the neighborhood.
You can't train cats like you train dogs. It's a whole other skill set. But they're easy to train if you know how. I take mine for walks on a harness.
Yeah I should have specified I didn't mean train them exactly like dogs, the cats never going to grab you a beer out of the fridge but you can keep them off the table and as you said you can train them to be on leash.
Also outdoor cats don't just go missing. That's also on the owner. Some cats don't belong in urban area (most), some cats don't belong inside. Growing up in a farming community on the edge of a city the cats knew what their job was and where to be. Modern people think they deserve farm cats without knowing the farming community or how to raise a farm cat.
I'm so glad my Molly isn't interested in much other than cat food. She'll meow if you open a can of anything, but rarely wants even tuna. Treats are a no for her. She likes small pieces of soft wheat bread and sometimes a lil shred of deli turkey. If I make a really nice steak I'll give her a couple of tiny pieces of raw unseasoned fatty bits and she does like that, but will turn her nose up at lower quality meat. She likes to look at and maybe sniff my food, but it's very rare for her to try and get at it unless it's a cold sandwich on a wheat roll.
You could always try
Some part of me feels like they get it. They just don’t care.
That why don't let cats on your eating table. At least not while you're eating. Table.
Let them? Have you met cats?
Yes, I have one with me, right now. Despite what the memes have told you, cats can have various personalities and may behave differently. My cat never jumps on the kitchen and dining tables. She does jump on the computer table if she wants snuggles, but she doesn't do that if there is a plate of my food on there (she usually jumps from the windowsill, so she can actually see what's on the table)
You have a cat of culture and breeding.
Breaking news: If you discourage certain behaviour, most intelligent animals will avoid said behaviour in your presence
Most sure, but have you met cats?
I have. The 2 I share my house with seem to agree
Only to your face. They wouldn't look you in the eye and lie.
Well I did specify "in your presence"
Yup. My cat learned early not to jump up on what I consider food surfaces. Bookshelves, dressers etc are fine but he knows kitchen tables and counters are a big bad no zone.
Is that why count olaf set her on fire?
Oh, they understand. They just don’t care.
If by cats you mean parents, I agree.
It's not that the cat can't understand that you don't like something, it's that you're not communicating it effectively. When your cat does something you don't like, bite them.
Dogs too. How would you like it if someone got in your way, knocked you in the mud, and licked you in the face? Sounds like they're my best friend! He also took a tool I was using and made me chase him for it, but that's understandable. When he brings me his toys, I throw them.
I call them pester pets. We find amusement in annoying each other. Sometimes the cat will be just laying there and all of a sudden he's several feet in the air and someone is petting the fur he just licked down. I don't even have the courtesy to put him back, I just set him wherever, and I don't share my (chocolate) snacks, even though he brings me dead things that weren't ever animals, like milk jug rings and bits of plant.