Animal Minds Book

I wanted to find out more about how animals communicate and function in groups. Although this book has not met my expectations, it opened my mind to problems with establishing criteria and common vocabulary, so all scientists can get to the same level, and avoid "Babel syndrome." I found it interesting to see how hard it is to establish concept of what suffice as a proof of thinking (communicating in sign language is not, using tools is not, creating new terms is not...).

Chapter about trying to map thinking in brain left me surprised, and sad. Severing connections in monkeys brains to see how the animals will operate is cruel, and might be missing the point. I didn't like this chapter, and am very surprised that scientists do not utilize tools that we have. There are non-intervention tools for mapping activities in the brain, i.e. using EEG.

Recently on Facebook person called Eric Trapp posted video of kitten watching horror movie. There was also other post, showing big TV screen with running lion, which scarred another kitten and sent it scurrying away. It means, cats can see and understand what is happening on the screen. I believe so do dogs. Why don't some scientist just connect animals to EEG, and show them some movies, then compare it with reactions of human brain.

The book is a very thorough and objective scientific overview of the discipline, and I'm glad I've read it.