Personal Reality Thread

@suzianne said
It's a sci-fi story. I find it interesting that we think the human condition is so great that we even start believing that non-humans would desire to be human. But then, we can only see through the window from our side.

It always fascinates me listening to people's assumptions about the way their pets see the world. I wonder how accurate we are at seeing the world through the eyes of other species??

@petewxyz said
It always fascinates me listening to people's assumptions about the way their pets see the world. I wonder how accurate we are at seeing the world through the eyes of other species??

That is pretty much impossible to do! 😉

-VR

@petewxyz said
It always fascinates me listening to people's assumptions about the way their pets see the world. I wonder how accurate we are at seeing the world through the eyes of other species??

'Roadside Picnic' is a novel that deals with similar themes. The story being that aliens visit earth leaving behind debris that affects humans in the same way that humans affect nature when taking a roadside picnic.

It's a good book and an even better film by Tarkovsky called 'The Stalker'.

@petewxyz said
It always fascinates me listening to people's assumptions about the way their pets see the world. I wonder how accurate we are at seeing the world through the eyes of other species??

Well, that's kind of what I was getting at. People love to anthropomorphize, even imagining what their pet would sound like if they could talk. I don't think we often see the world through the eyes of our pets, but it is more the other way 'round. Some people seem to think they see the world as we do. It's what I mean when I say that we think humans are the 'top of the heap' and assume that other species want to be like us, when I'm sure they are perfectly happy being themselves. Civilization forces us to rise above seeing the world as an animal might, to the point of not being able to, or care to, see the world the way they do. In this way, I'm afraid humans have lost their connection with nature. This also makes us blind to animals that end up abused or neglected. Right now, I'm the new owner of a basset hound that was basically left outside by his owner 24 hours a day. He's about 18 months old and probably never got to play with other dogs and missed out on just being a puppy. He's trying to catch up on lost time now, though.

@very-rusty said
You are a prime example for seeing things from your side of the window! 😉

-VR

I don't recall ringing your bell. Hush.

@suzianne said
Well, that's kind of what I was getting at. People love to anthropomorphize, even imagining what their pet would sound like if they could talk. I don't think we often see the world through the eyes of our pets, but it is more the other way 'round. Some people seem to think they see the world as we do. It's what I mean when I say that we think humans are the 'top of the h ...[text shortened]... other dogs and missed out on just being a puppy. He's trying to catch up on lost time now, though.

I saw this fascinating documentary about the relationship between dogs and humans. Apparently based on sound research although I never followed it up. Essentially they tracked the gaze of different species looking at human faces. Unlike any other species, dogs were significantly more likely to selective look towards the side of the human face connected to the dominant hemisphere (the side most likely to betray our emotional state).

The suggestion was that dogs have evolved the ability to read us pretty accurately. It was linked to the amount of time they had lived in symbiosis since the first Wolves discovered that coming tamely to the camp fire was the successful strategy. So, people don't seem to read animals too well but dogs read humans?!

-Removed-

It left everybody speechless, but maybe that's part of the plan??

@divegeester removed their quoted post

It's not David Icke is it?

@hope said
@petewxyz

Yes, excellent.

The hard problem of consciousness appears to be unsolvable. I will definitely find that book - thank you.

-hope

The greatest trick that our minds ever 'learned' was to make us aware of ourselves and our own existence, which makes us as a species unique in the animal world, and the great mystery is 'when did this happen?' All philosophy and religion starts from there.

@divegeester removed their quoted post

I'm not sure whether these are your thoughts and opinions or whether they are a random list of 'quotes' from various conversations with another or others. All of the statements could be discussed individually.
For example: This world will 'pass away' whether there is a god who says it or not, the sun has only a few billion years to 'live', in its' current, stable state, after which it will explode, then it's goodnight Vienna whoever's in control. Science and religion can agree on this at least.