Of cats and the laws of physics
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I think what they are saying is the cat's understand that a box that rattles has something in it - so when that understanding fails they are surprised and stare longer. It's a bit of a stretch to get from that to "understanding physics" I agree, but the basic grasp of "noise == content" is established. And yes, cats do grasp some abstract concepts surprisingly well, and will experiment to get to a goal. We had one that learned to raid his treats - which took jumping from the third step onto the wine rack, jumping from there to the top of the cabinet, leaning over the side to chew through the rubber band keeping the door shut (so he couldn't raid his treats), dropping to the shelf below so he could push himself up under the doors to get inside the cupboard. Took him about a week to work out - had to be the third step, the second was too low, the fourth too far away - and so on. But once he'd got it fixed, it took him seconds each time.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
OriginalGriff wrote:
the basic grasp of "noise == content" is establishe
I'd have said it's the basic grasp of "noise == something to chase". Hunting instinct != understanding of Physics.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Could someone kindly explain to me how they got from "the box that makes a noise has something inside it" to "cats understand physics"? Cats seem to grasp the laws of physics[^] Sounds like a good way to swindle research funds.
aaryan42 wrote:
Sounds like a good way to swindle research funds.
More likely just, "Science reporter doesn't really understand the paper, writes headline to catch attention." You can never trust headline writers. Or blurb writers. They're all shifty. :-O
TTFN - Kent
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OriginalGriff wrote:
Your kids bring home rats, mice, moles, and dead birds?
Yes it's called supper. I'll get my hat
Mongo: Mongo only pawn... in game of life.
Corporal Agarn wrote:
I'll get my hat
Why? Are you going to pull a rabbit out of it? :laugh:
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Corporal Agarn wrote:
I'll get my hat
Why? Are you going to pull a rabbit out of it? :laugh:
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
Na, just too hot for a coat. :) Besides I need a hat to keep the glare down. :-O
Mongo: Mongo only pawn... in game of life.
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OriginalGriff wrote:
Your kids bring home rats, mice, moles, and dead birds?
Yes it's called supper. I'll get my hat
Mongo: Mongo only pawn... in game of life.
Corporal Agarn wrote:
Yes it's called supper.
Cue up 'Dueling Banjos'....
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment "Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst "I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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aaryan42 wrote:
Sounds like a good way to swindle research funds.
More likely just, "Science reporter doesn't really understand the paper, writes headline to catch attention." You can never trust headline writers. Or blurb writers. They're all shifty. :-O
TTFN - Kent
Kent Sharkey wrote:
You can never trust headline writers.
+5 although that's not entirely fair. Most newspapers are trustworthy sources, staffed by dedicated professionals The problem is the 83 yotta Interweb "news" sites that are staffed with semi-literate cretins who don't know what the word "journalism" means, let alone "Physics", and probably "cat".
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Could someone kindly explain to me how they got from "the box that makes a noise has something inside it" to "cats understand physics"? Cats seem to grasp the laws of physics[^] Sounds like a good way to swindle research funds.
Cats understand how to manipulate people in a way that we give them shelter and food; let them sit on us; let them in, then out, then in, then out again; let them wreck our furniture and won't even get mad... Ancient Egypt worshiped them. And now they have taken over the Internet. Cats understand way more than just physics, they might be aliens with an intellect vastly superior than our own! You think the Illuminati or lizards rule the world? Hell no, it's cats!
Read my (free) ebook Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly. Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles here on CodeProject.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra
Regards, Sander
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Could someone kindly explain to me how they got from "the box that makes a noise has something inside it" to "cats understand physics"? Cats seem to grasp the laws of physics[^] Sounds like a good way to swindle research funds.
Cats are alien beings that telepathically send their observations back to their home world, Meow. When they stare at things longer, they're actually sending longer messages, along the lines of "humans keep proving what idiots they are." Marc
Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project! Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
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Cats understand how to manipulate people in a way that we give them shelter and food; let them sit on us; let them in, then out, then in, then out again; let them wreck our furniture and won't even get mad... Ancient Egypt worshiped them. And now they have taken over the Internet. Cats understand way more than just physics, they might be aliens with an intellect vastly superior than our own! You think the Illuminati or lizards rule the world? Hell no, it's cats!
Read my (free) ebook Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly. Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles here on CodeProject.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra
Regards, Sander
You make a convincing argument there. Does tinfoil protect against cats?
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You make a convincing argument there. Does tinfoil protect against cats?
Seems like it does[^] :laugh:
Read my (free) ebook Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly. Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles here on CodeProject.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra
Regards, Sander
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Seems like it does[^] :laugh:
Read my (free) ebook Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly. Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles here on CodeProject.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra
Regards, Sander
You learn something new every day.
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Could someone kindly explain to me how they got from "the box that makes a noise has something inside it" to "cats understand physics"? Cats seem to grasp the laws of physics[^] Sounds like a good way to swindle research funds.
I finished watching a random Monty Python video just prior to reading this thread, so naturally I read all these comments in the various voices of the Python troupe. It was extraordinarily entertaining, what with all the non-sequiters and whatnot. "That's not a cat license. That's a dog license with the word 'dog' crossed off and 'cat' written in crayon."
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Could someone kindly explain to me how they got from "the box that makes a noise has something inside it" to "cats understand physics"? Cats seem to grasp the laws of physics[^] Sounds like a good way to swindle research funds.
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OriginalGriff wrote:
the basic grasp of "noise == content" is establishe
I'd have said it's the basic grasp of "noise == something to chase". Hunting instinct != understanding of Physics.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Could someone kindly explain to me how they got from "the box that makes a noise has something inside it" to "cats understand physics"? Cats seem to grasp the laws of physics[^] Sounds like a good way to swindle research funds.
Because without some grasp of physics there's no way for cats to make the predictions they do. Duh.
Quote:
Sounds like a good way to swindle research funds.
Only to someone who knows nothing about the field science and how and why research is done.
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So he understands about lasers, batteries, optics, etc. That's good. You should write a paper about it.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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So he understands about lasers, batteries, optics, etc. That's good. You should write a paper about it.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Great! Sort one out, and let her do all the work! You can just rake in all the money, because money has nothing to do with Physics, so cats don't understand it.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Could someone kindly explain to me how they got from "the box that makes a noise has something inside it" to "cats understand physics"? Cats seem to grasp the laws of physics[^] Sounds like a good way to swindle research funds.
