[HN Gopher] 'Not' and its many permutations
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'Not' and its many permutations
Author : onemind
Score : 31 points
Date : 2022-01-23 12:04 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (theamericanscholar.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (theamericanscholar.org)
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| gumby wrote:
| In a disagreement over the use of "not", if neither party changes
| their mind, it is considered a "tie".
| kjhughes wrote:
| That's knot funny.
| carapace wrote:
| "Not" is the beginning of language and rational thought. There is
| not "not" in the pre-verbal animal mind. There is not "not" in
| emotion. There's aversion and other "negative" emotions, but
| these are present and positive (in the sense of existing, not
| being defined by absence.) One is "filled" with disgust, for
| example.
| robbedpeter wrote:
| This is not true. Pre-verbal animals like wolves know the
| difference between rabbit in hole and rabbit not in hole.
| Raining and not raining. Pack and not pack. Food and not food.
|
| In coyotes, it is the absence of pack members in communal
| howling that triggers hyper-fertility.
|
| In arboreal primates, they tend to have three threat
| vocalizations (air, tree, ground) and one "no threat" modality.
|
| I don't think it's nearly as clear as you're suggesting. There
| is even evidence of the use of mathematical 0 in animal
| cognition and communication.
|
| Formal verbal communication seems more a matter of physical
| capability than cognitive capacity. Giving animals the ability
| to speak with sign language (Koko the gorilla, RIP) or buttons
| (like Bunny the talking dog) has shown that animal cognition
| isn't nearly as distinct from human cognition as has been
| thought.
|
| What makes humans special is sophisticated verbalization,
| opposable thumbs, and being the ultimate endurance/persistence
| predator.
| carapace wrote:
| Well I did say "the _beginning_ of language and rational
| thought ", eh? And you're picking some very intelligent
| animals as counter-examples. :)
|
| I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed to find out that non-
| human intelligence is more common than previously suspected.
|
| - - - -
|
| > What makes humans special is sophisticated verbalization,
| opposable thumbs, and being the ultimate
| endurance/persistence predator.
|
| Aye. FWIW, I would add to that list the capability for
| recursive and self-reflexive thought.
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