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#1
10-22-2006, 01:44 PM
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Cats May Be Smarter Than Sklansky Thinks
[ QUOTE ]
Unless there is any reason to believe that cats might conceivably be able to answer algebra problems. [/ QUOTE ] When I was a teenager I had two younger brothers who shared a bedroom. On occasion they would fight and eventually they damaged the doorframe of their bedroom door so that the door wouldn't stay closed. They solved that problem by draping a rolled up t-shirt over the doorknobs on both sides of the door, causing the materiel of the shirt to wedge between the door and frame and keep the door closed. We also had two cats back then. I'll call them "Old Cat" and "Young Cat," for our purposes. Both cats had learned that to escape from the bedroom, all they had to do was reach under the door with their paw and pull/scratch the door towards them (they also learned to stand up and lean into it to open it from the outside). On one day one of my brothers and the two cats were in the bedroom with the door wedged closed. Old Cat was on my brother's bed napping. Young Cat decided she wanted out of the bedroom and tried to pull the door open, but it was wedged too tight for her. She kept scratching and pulling, trying to get the door to open, but to no avail. Old Cat was awakened by this noise and seemed annoyed, as my brother tells it. She tried to go back to sleep. But Young Cat persisted, making even more noise. Finally, Old Cat had enough and got up, jumped onto the floor and walked over to the door. Old Cat, who was much bigger and stronger than Young Cat, opened the door for Young Cat. She then went back, jumped back onto the bed, and went back to sleep. While this is a far cry from algebra, it does demonstrate that a cat can reason. At least "Old Cat" could reason (when motivated). Who knows, in a million years cats may be doing algebra. And in two million years cats may be telling stories of other cats who parted the Red Sea and who walked on water. 
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#2
10-22-2006, 02:00 PM
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Re: Cats May Be Smarter Than Sklansky Thinks
[img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]
So cats can solve puzzles too. They were royalty, and are still regarded as such, as pets. That was the first puzzle they solved. "Monkeys think we're cute and will feed us, bathe us, pet us." That's going to be an interesting evolutionary line. They will part the Red Sea 'cause they dislike water, and they'll learn to walk on it 'cause of that too. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] I had a cat that was somewhat intelligent. He pissed on my bed once after I took a girl home. He didn't do that for girls before and after that particular lass, so I listened to him. <shrugs> Maybe it's not textbook sane, but when the animals panic, it's generally a good idea to panic along with them.
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#3
10-22-2006, 02:50 PM
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Re: Cats May Be Smarter Than Sklansky Thinks
But can they figure out how long it takes the door to close by itself given the amount that it is out of plumb by deriving and minimizing the Hamiltonian with the calculus of variations?
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#4
10-22-2006, 05:47 PM
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Re: Cats May Be Smarter Than Sklansky Thinks
Can Sklansky?
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#6
10-22-2006, 05:52 PM
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Re: Cats May Be Smarter Than Sklansky Thinks
[ QUOTE ]
But can they figure out how long it takes the door to close by itself given the amount that it is out of plumb by deriving and minimizing the Hamiltonian with the calculus of variations? [/ QUOTE ] See, you don't get the point. Felix ain't effort-intensive. He lets the monkeys do it for him. [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] Edit: Or maybe you do. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]
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#7
10-23-2006, 01:45 PM
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Re: Cats May Be Smarter Than Sklansky Thinks
In the brit comedy Red Dwarf, the only surving members of earth are a goofy guy that got stuck in suspended animation and a cat that EVOLVES into a good dressing black man!
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#9
10-30-2006, 05:14 PM
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Re: Cats May Be Smarter Than Sklansky Thinks
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] Unless there is any reason to believe that cats might conceivably be able to answer algebra problems. [/ QUOTE ] When I was a teenager I had two younger brothers who shared a bedroom. On occasion they would fight and eventually they damaged the doorframe of their bedroom door so that the door wouldn't stay closed. They solved that problem by draping a rolled up t-shirt over the doorknobs on both sides of the door, causing the materiel of the shirt to wedge between the door and frame and keep the door closed. We also had two cats back then. I'll call them "Old Cat" and "Young Cat," for our purposes. Both cats had learned that to escape from the bedroom, all they had to do was reach under the door with their paw and pull/scratch the door towards them (they also learned to stand up and lean into it to open it from the outside). On one day one of my brothers and the two cats were in the bedroom with the door wedged closed. Old Cat was on my brother's bed napping. Young Cat decided she wanted out of the bedroom and tried to pull the door open, but it was wedged too tight for her. She kept scratching and pulling, trying to get the door to open, but to no avail. Old Cat was awakened by this noise and seemed annoyed, as my brother tells it. She tried to go back to sleep. But Young Cat persisted, making even more noise. Finally, Old Cat had enough and got up, jumped onto the floor and walked over to the door. Old Cat, who was much bigger and stronger than Young Cat, opened the door for Young Cat. She then went back, jumped back onto the bed, and went back to sleep. While this is a far cry from algebra, it does demonstrate that a cat can reason. At least "Old Cat" could reason (when motivated). Who knows, in a million years cats may be doing algebra. And in two million years cats may be telling stories of other cats who parted the Red Sea and who walked on water. [/ QUOTE ] Old cat was just curious. Cats are like that.
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