Thinking Like Animals

After reading the Temple Grandin pieces, we were asked to invent a mechanism for animals in the group activity during section last week. As a group it was difficult to come up with things that we wanted to invent. It was particularly difficult because we had to really put ourselves in place of animals and think how they would think. We had to think of an animal in particular, lets say a dog, and think about what we believe they would like. Whether it be running around and playing, or receiving savory food/treats that they would enjoy having to eat, i found what seemed to be a fun and creative task was much more difficult than expected because i came to realize that there is a reason why it was difficult to imagine. It is because we do not know what animals like or what they want. We do not know much about their desires and their needs because they do not communicate it to us and therefore we can only assume what they want based off of what we see when we observe them and how they interact with us and the environment around them. How do we know they like meat-flavored treats? How do we know they want to fetch a ball? We don't know how they really think or what they actually enjoy, but we base our decisions off of their reactions to the things we expose them to. We create a world where we control their actions and reactions. And this is what has opened my eyes up—the fact that we make decisions for them and think that we know them based off of what we see, but do not know the truth because we can't simply get into their minds. Just something i thought was interesting to take notice of when doing the activity! I'm curious as to what the different groups came up with and why!