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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Random Bystander" data-source="post: 6579384" data-attributes="member: 6702095">Anthropomorphizing? We humans do that because that is how we relate, fundamentally. It is how we first understand that the voice on the phone is Gramma or Grandpa. It is why, and how, we can hold video calls. We understand that the image on our screen, and the voice that goes with it, is (a representation, a perception of them from a certain point in space) our friend, relative, coworker, boss, or someone you accidentally misdialed.It is how we care about stuffed animals, and (relevant to this forum), how and why we can care about numbers on a sheet, and view them as a (subordinate/imaginary/created) personality. It's why even an entire class of tough high schoolers will tear up watching Old Yeller.But, ultimately, our dog is not human. This is not an insult. It is a statement of essential fact. When a dog looks up at you with what you see as adoration, perhaps might be rendered as (respect/consideration/devotion) due to The Alpha. Dogs, over many, many years, expect humans to be The Alpha. The simple fact is, a dogs' psychology does not match a humans'. And, while you are Anthropomorphizing your dog...Your dog is probably caninepomorphizing you.Also, to address the human/animal question, or more properly, the sapient/animal question (although humans are the only known sapients, according to scientific consensus as far as I know), there are qualitative structures in the human brain not present in animals, and even entire parts of the human brain not found in any animal. An ape can be trained to use a keyboard, and will use it faster than a human, but aside from the human knowing more words...If you replace the ape's QWERTY keyboard with a DVORAK keyboard, they will have to start over, and learn how to use it from the basics. A human can adjust on the fly, because we consider each keypress as it's happening.I am not addressing here the many questions of things that can negatively affect the brain and thought; those are outside the scope of considering an unimpaired (per medical terminology) human brain, or an unimpaired (also per medical terminology) animal brain. In addition, I do not here attempt to define myself, in any sort of general sense, what "an unimpaired brain" of any sort might mean.</blockquote>

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