Blog #230--Praising Anthropomorphism

Have you seen the commercials showing extremely sad and abused animals locked in small cages, waiting fruitlessly for someone to love them? As someone who is a former veterinarian and loves animals, I would wish to adopt them all if I could. But there are far more abused pet animals than there are humans willing to open their hearts to them. How can anyone see those commercials and not recognize these animals are thinking, feeling beings that have much in common with humans?

Or have you seen the video reaction of a dog toward its soldier owner coming home after 6 months deployment overseas? The dog is all over him, showering him with enthusiastic love and affection. It is also quite talkative, with a definite emotional lilt to its voice. If one listens closely with an open mind, one can clearly hear the dog trying to say, “I love you so much.” Dogs don’t have the vocal cords or mouth structure to speak as clearly as humans, but there is no doubt this dog is saying the same things we would under the same circumstance.

Did you see where famous ape researcher Jane Goodall taught Koko the gorilla sign language? It developed an amazingly large vocabulary. Or did you see the video of an orangutan laughing at a “missing ball” magic trick? Alex the African grey parrot could add Arabic numbers and speak words showing independent thought and usage. For instance, it could say “I love you” without prompting, and it once looked into a mirror and asked, “What color am I?”

I have mentioned other examples of life forms showing signs of consciousness and intelligence in my book “It’s a Secret, So Pass It On: a Toolbox For Life” and subsequent blogs. The above is only a small sample size of what is a rapidly-growing volume of evidence supporting the fact that humans are not an independent species created differently than other life forms, with nothing in common with them.

I was excited to see a 10/1/16 article by J.P. Sottile on truth-out.org. He had the courage to denounce those who deny anthropomorphism, explaining that scientists have created a three-centuries-old ban against a subject that is proving to have definite validity.

We like to pretend we are at the top of the food chain, superior to all other species. Anthropomorphism has become a tool like “conspiracy theory” to discredit anyone who dares to challenge the notion of human superiority. It is rationalized frequently so we can use other species for their utility without remorse. After all, if we presume non-human life forms can’t feel pain or suffer emotionally, we can do whatever we want with them.

Sottile explained:

“It’s a phenomenon leading primatologist Frans de Waal calls “anthropodenial.” It’s the reflexive ‘rejection of humanlike traits in animals and of animal-like traits in humans’ and it still persists despite mounting evidence to the contrary. De Waal collected much of that evidence himself during years studying primates like bonobos. They are 98% genetically similar to humans, they exhibit many of the hallmarks of humanness and they are famous for the ribald complexity of their culture...And yes, it is a culture.”

He shared some additional examples of human-like behavior in other species. Here are a few of them:

* Some spiders share food with their neighbors, occasionally at their own detriment.

* Despite having their main food nearby, some humpback whales will stop orcas from attacking other sea mammals.

* It has been demonstrated that a pig can reason where food is by looking at its reflection in a mirror.

* Gorillas hum and sing, and macaques can learn to use computer touch screens to communicate.

* Zebra finches sing to their young before they hatch.

We are a long way from providing equal rights to animals. After all, we still resist a constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights for women. But recent polls indicate a growing acceptance of other species as more similar to us than dissimilar and thus deserve rights. Those who accept anthropomorphism are still fewer than half the population, but the number of people who believe animals should have no rights is diminishing rapidly.

With the growth of the Internet and social media sharing, people all around the Earth are beginning to notice the many examples of other life forms showing complex thoughts and feelings. This helps open our own hearts and minds to a much bigger world than we recognized previously. Sottile describes this phenomenon:

“People eagerly share videos of humans and cows snuggling, crows seeking emergency first aid and whales thanking humans for freeing them from callously abandoned fishing nets. We’ve obsessively watched and re-watched that compelling conversation between two chatty cats over 61 million times. And the laughing orangutan that anthropodenialists would prefer to dismiss as “vocalized panting?” It was a big hit on dozens of mainstream news sites and, as of today, it’s heading toward 19 million views in just under a year.”

Other life forms learn from each other. Sometimes various species share information intentionally, such as when predators are near and when the coast is clear. Scientists have proven many species can learn from each other. We can learn great lessons from them as well, if only we could let go of our sense of superiority and arrogance and begin to accept their right to exist.

As Sottile reminds us in the article, Earth could be headed for a major catastrophe due to climate change, nuclear war, man-made chemical and biological weapons, and many other factors. Other species can help us know what is happening and how to cope with it, if only we would pay more attention to them. They are our brothers and sisters, and they seem to know things that we still need to learn.

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