Originally published at: GRAMMAR, SYNTAX, AND THE LANGUAGE OF (SOME) BIRDS
Regular readers of this website, and more importantly, the paying members who follow our members’ vidchats, will know that one of the subjects that often fixes our attention and which has been a consistent subject for our high octane speculations is consciousness and intelligence, and specifically that of some animals. People know that I am…
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Shilo, the vid-chat mascot, learned to spell years ago…(my dogs also have me well-trained)
The crows and blackbirds at the local supermarket have me pegged the moment I step out of the car, if not when I pull in to the parking lot randomly (after feeding them on several occasions).
Anyone that has had the misfortune to disturb a cluster of black wasps can testify that they’ve been permanently added to the wasps “on call” data banks, and they hold grudges. Even if you happen to get away, they will eventually find and attack you on sight months later…and know more about you than you know yourself…including your patterns, credit score, Social Security number and first childhood crush. 
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As a naturalist (I actually have the degree), replete with years of being around both domestic and wild animals, the failing of humans to realize that their limited audible range is hardly an indication of superior anything, I am not surprised that someone catalogued the vocalizations of some species and recognized the syntax as it related to behavior. I was lucky enough to study with Dr. Olin Sewell Pettingill of Cornell Bird Labs in 1970 and we were just experimenting with battery operated recorders in the field to analyze the results. We called in multiple species that were either nearly colorless, hard to detect, or very shy. It was marvelous. Groundbreaking.
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Frame has changed.
Computer problems changed my perspective.
Inputs, environment; cause epigentic responses.
There is programmed from without; within; both at once/withcommon surface[s].
There is the Natural vs the unnatural vs the play for attention.
Much ado in communication’s subset, “language”.
[subset/grammar]
Dimensions] is[are] key[s].
To today’s post…
I would posit that ALL living; have access to different dimensions, some shared - some not.
“Higher” dimension[s]; accessing , what “we” consider “intelligence[s]”.
Grammar being a derivative of communication; a derivative of langues.
[Im basically dispensing the “s’s”; as it’s a given, when addressing "dimension/s.]
Whose existence/dimension; is also a “derivative” of THE TOPOLOGICAL Metaphor,
(Need I remind “you”; this is high octane speculation territory/Giza.)
In other words , the Mother Of ALL Rabbit holes.
Including: sequence in, and of time.
[M I getting hestitant, as professing such?
As in, the infamous; yet humorous, Professor Irwin Corey territory.
I don’t know about you all, but I have way too many running theories on…
Too many sibjects; including Man vs Animals.
[now, dispensing with quotes].
One of which is: genetic engineering by so-called gods.
THE GOD, created Man and/or the animals.
Animals then being; more core, in essence.
Complicated; in that the differences are natural, not natural, and subject to too many interventions.
[Dispensing futher: to Ocam’s razor; not the 20th-Worst Century’s, Ocam’s Chainsaw version].
Yes.
AND, one could go future in communication derivatives:
Creator<____<subset creat/or/ure<unknown means of communication<culture<language< grammar<
To recognize symbols and/or patterns as communication.
ABSOLUTE core principle/principal.
Let’s put it in a Dashiell Hammet universe.
Meaning, Gizars are not the types to get jailhouse religions.
My point is that once is happenstance and twice is habit.
In other words: I’m ONBOARD with an ancient split.
Where; we are more human with animals, than without.
Hear! Hear!
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Studied psychology majoring in consciousness and spirituality and yes there was there is a huge relationship animals have with both. One of my professors was biologist Rupert Sheldrake. Many studies in consciousness of animals, whose connection with their human family enhances both their consciousness and their perception, at long range I might add. Good examples here of his work and why I think animals are just an expression of what we are all connected with/to. Animal Powers
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Thank you for posting your thoughts about animal intelligence, and also for your companion post on plant intelligence. Over the years, I have come to think that every creature, whether plant, animal, fungus, microbe, etc., has been endowed with just the right “intelligence” it needs to contribute its own unique role in the cosmic web of life. And each role is somehow as important as it is deeply mysterious. The deeper one contemplates the intelligence of any creature, the more fascinating the contemplation of the mystery…
Your two companion posts, which ponder the mystery of intelligence in plants and animals, are very important. Many of our daily thoughts are subsumed, nowadays, with artificial intelligence, which has been smashed, quite aggressively, into our faces – almost completely subverting the ponderance of natural intelligence that is inherent in all living beings, regardless what species – and then neglecting to contemplate the great mystery behind this. For me personally, the great fallout of the “Fall” has to do with turning (in our minds) other creatures into "It"s - mere objects to be used, as opposed to “Thou”'s, where one celebrates the intrinsic beauty and role of each creature as a subject in God’s glorious web of creation. To me, this insight is fundamental to being able to raise ourselves out of the fallen state – to return to a reverence and respect for God’s natural creation and biological living systems, and to refuse to participate in practices which desecrate living beings and the fragile and intelligent web of life that binds us all together.
Last year, Father Terry Martin (Roman Catholic priest) published an extraordinary book (Animals in Heaven?) about his personal musings on where he thinks animals fit into the Christian faith. I find this book refreshing – his ideas speak to something that could nourish the Christian faith with profound beauty, and moreover – a great healing and helping to bring people out of this anti-life mind map that has led to the unfolding of all what’s going on around us. We have never heard a Catholic priest voice ideas beyond the standard “animals were put here to be used by humans”, while citing the Old Testament for such ideas, and we feel inspired by Father Terry’s thoughts.
Book Description: Christians of all traditions have often puzzled with the question “Do dogs go to heaven?” Drawing on Catholic teaching, and on his long pastoral experience as a parish priest, Terry Martin expands that concept to consider wider issues around all animals, domesticated and free-living, and why they are here. Within a context of Christian faith, he seeks to understand the place of animals in God’s complex creation and the relationship that human beings have (for good or ill) with those animals. More than that, he looks at the big questions which so many ask about who, under God, animals are and what meaning, if any, animal lives have from a Catholic Christian perspective.
In two (online print) interviews, Father Martin explains why he wrote his book, and gives an overview of his ideas:
- Sarx interview: Animals in Heaven? - Fr Terry Martin - Sarx
- Stallwood interview: Animals in Heaven? by Fr Terry Martin
Besides Father Terry’s book, we recently enjoyed this video which explored the bonds between animals of different species – how they communicate and relate to one another in ways that transcend mere “language”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-evijx5cX2k
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Interesting article and links, speaking about the first one, I have to say as a foreigner, that at the first glance I have found the statement about Japanese great t**s very peculiar.
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… see also The Evolution of Intelligence: Are Humans the Only Animals with Minds?
by James H. Fetzer
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I’m pretty sure dogs can read our minds. I’ve had several experiences with them reacting to something I had in mind but had not begun to do. And the relationship with a specific human seems to sharpen their consciousness skills. Backyard dogs that have little human interaction (shameful in my mind) seem pretty dumb. The more time / interactions they are with their humans the smarter they seem to be. Some of this is learned behavior I’m sure, but some has to be the connection they make to our own spirits.
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…
…artificial, witchcraft alchemical constructs…too ,much overworked, overprocessed, overworked agai and, again…not really existing…
Instead what really existing is:“The Thing”,one cell…i.e.one prison…of the soul and spirit…yes one cell is all it takes to inprison,captivate them…make them slaves,robots…
…ahmm…to imitate life. The True life and remembering,i.e.memory…
And that is what we now call life.Wich is all but false,falsificate.etc. …of Life…etc
Imprisoned,captured soul and spirit in matter…
WICH IS NOTHING BUT ONE PATH TO DEATH…
THAT IS WHY CHRIST COME…TO FREE US FROM DEATH…NO?
- MIND(AOUM)(УМ)…two in one consciousness(Свест)intelligence(Памет,памјат,помнение)and memory(спомнение,сеќавање wich means akasha type of reminiscing)…and all is now…and it is…
What about unconsciousness?
For example, when we sleep. When we dream.
Are we then alive?
Although immobile like plants?
Do we then have consciousness and intelligence?
Or are we just trees lying on wooden beds?
Is life just a dream?
Or is the dream really our real life?..etc.
What about the altered states of consciousness as we call them?
For example, a state of hypnosis, fugue, meditation, amnesia,brain damage,mental retardation…etc.
…mental disorders, neuroses, psychoses, and the worst so-called borderline states of consciousness…
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I used to live in a area with local RC church, Minor Basilica actually, that have had quite active confession and mass schedule scene. Perfect for active working people. Over the years I have notice peculiar thing about that church, that on October 4th the feast of St. Francis, bushes surrounding the building were filled with chirping birds. They wouldn’t fly all over, just stay in the branches, in quite massive quantities They sounded quite loud, happy, melodic.
That would happen only on the fourth, not a day before or day after. I have paid attention to this over the years. There was firm pattern in their behavior.
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I adopted a stray dog in May that followed my dog and me home. Her ribs were showing and her teets looked like she’d recently had pups. She may have been dropped off to avoid another litter without the cost a spaying.
When I took her on walks with my other dog, she never sniffed or stopped to pee. Finally she started mimicking what the other dog did, and learned how to be a dog. Now they are best buds.
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What kind of birds?Species?
It is important.
Birds. Warm-blooded flying, walking reptiles. Keep that in mind. Let it sink in.
Remember the Beatitudes.
Who will inherit the Earth?
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…ahhmm. The answer may be very simple.
…everything that has mobility, has motion, that is, is a-nima…ted,made,done, inspired…by…well you know…
…and everything else static, immobile has no anima, no soul, no spirit.
The greatest perceptual deception, at least in the material world.
Movement, motion, is life. Everything else is not.
But immobile plants are living organisms, right?
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…aahhm…ahhuu…what about worms, mice, rats, snails (and all the underground creatures, which are either blind, or manifest only at night, such as bats, from caves, or night hunters wolves, or cats,in Al-Qeem worshipped as gods) and now.
What about elephants?
What about crocodiles (from the Nile)…
What about sharks, whales and dolphins?
What about insects such as bees, praying mantises, cockroaches, termites, night and day butterflies (and their transformations from caterpillars, bound to gravity into flyers, not bound to gravity,?)
What about bees? TRANSFORMATION FROM LARVA (WORM), INTO Nagas…
Yes Nagas are both snakes and bees insects at the same time.
Reptiles and insects…
Plasma forms take your pick…etc turtles, eagles, tigers, bears, deer, roe deer…
None of them domesticated…except wolves (dogs) and cats…but they don’t really retain their ‘god’ character.
What other pets…houseflies?
I haven’t heard, seen anyone keep one as a pet for example…
bacteria,and other invisible microorganisms.
Which don’t have any consciousness, for example…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremophile...etc
…these are my favorites…for those that will inherit Earth…
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Cats are very canny at understanding our speech patterns. I had one who’s favorite “saying” was like a child, “I don’t know.” Once we took him on a trip to visit a friend. He was walking around checking things out and my friend asked him what he was doing. “I don’t know.” She laughed. He promptly turned around and stuck his tail straight up in the air. Oh wait. I guess they understand more than just voice speech patterns.
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Years ago I remember seeing a “live” test on network T.V. featuring a doggie that knew when his owner was on the way home and would go the window at the appropriate time and wait for a few minutes for him to arrive…
The argument was made that the doggie was simply familiar with the “regular” time that his owner left work, so a series of tests were conducted (and televised) with a third party telling the man when to leave and watching him throughout the process. Many different times and situations were tried…and every time the doggie knew when to go sit by the window.
Are all dogs psychic? Maybe not. Was the test rigged? Possibly, but I doubt it. Is Big Mike a woman? I doubt that as well. Sometimes it’s just not rocket science to figure these things out.
Could be that we were all telepathic at one point. Animals and plants included. Who knows.
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None of my dogs wear a watch but at 5pm Central time, this is what you get. (The brown one just thinks he is a dog).
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On the conscious intelligence of birds, and of the African grey parrot in particular, the work of Irene Pepperberg is particularly interesting. She managed to train her parrot Alex not only to recognise colours and sizes, but also numerical concepts, even including the concept of zero. She demonstrated that Alex possessed a conscious understanding of what Galileo called the primary and the secondary qualities of nature. Both provide, I believe, evidence of the primacy of consciousness throughout nature, as much as in what we consider to be mind.
If we take what Galileo would have recognised as a secondary quality, say the colour red, or the emotional interaction between any pet and its owner, they are examples of qualia. That brings us directly to the hard problem of consciousness, first identified by David Chalmers thirty years ago. What is more, an emotional interaction between owner and pet suggests a commonality of certain qualia which are not just figments {epiphenomena) of any individual brain, whether human or animal.
Alex, the grey parrot, also demonstrated an understanding of mathematical concepts, which for Galileo were primary qualities of nature. Like Plato and Pythagoras, he considered:
the book of nature is written in the language of mathematics
Yet Alex’s appreciation of mathematics presents a conundrum to the Darwinian evolutionist. We are told that avian brains have evolved to be very different from those of ourselves and other mammals. This is because, over millions of years, birds have been subject to very different evolutionary pressures in order to survive, compared to humans. How was it then that both Alex and Irene could understand exactly the same mathematical concepts? Was this just a coincidence, or is some knowledge, of mathematics and geometry a priori?
That brings me to the octopus and some of its fellow cephalopods, which display not just intelligence, but a sense of understanding that equally contributes to consciousness. Yet an octapus’ conscious intelligence does not manifest principally through its brain, but the arms; each of which seems to display a significant degree of autonomy, if not free will.
Despite its frequent use of the hackneyed scientific metaphor of ‘mechanism’, the Unified Field of Consciousness (UFC), discussed in this paper suggests consciousness may be something more like an unfolding organic process throughout nature, in the manner suggested by A, N. Whitehead.
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They hear vehicles, they hear footsteps. They know their people. Cats can hear its owner’s vehicle when it’s near home.
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