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Author Topic: The Discussion #14 (5/5/15)  (Read 4464 times)
Rayblon
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« on: May 05, 2015, 09:35:32 AM »

I guess I'm only good at coming up with scenarios.

You have a superpower that you have no control over; any animal you are in direct contact with will know all the raw information you know, and will have their intelligence brought up to your own. However, it only lasts as long as you're touching. Assume raw information excludes personal experience, and that this does induce sentience. As a further clarification, the animal will remember the contact event, but not the raw information it had access to.

What would you do?
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Rayblon
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« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2015, 09:43:15 AM »

I would become a veterinarian(or just a zoologist) and use the power to improve the field of veterinary medicine and possibly animal psychology.

Or... I'd get a single pet and try to stay in constant contact with it. Maybe a parrot, or a snake or something. I'd learn everything I could about it and especially focus on its opinions and world views. I'd avoid touching any other animal directly due to the possible effects
 of it; I can't imagine they'd want to go back.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2015, 09:45:53 AM by Rayblon » Logged

pspeed
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« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2015, 10:05:45 AM »

It could also be a horrifying experience for them.  There is a bliss in ignorance.
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Rayblon
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« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2015, 10:20:55 AM »

It could also be a horrifying experience for them.  There is a bliss in ignorance.

I hear that often, and I understand the possibikity, but... how? What about culturally sterile information would ilicit horror?
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« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2015, 11:03:34 AM »

It's kind of impossible for us to guess what it would be like to be taken from life being so simple to suddenly life being extremely complicated.

"will know all the raw information you know, and will have their intelligence brought up to your own."

...in other words, they suddenly realize that they are naked. That their species is basically living only at the whim of another.  They will understand how short their own lives are and how little impact they have on the world... and suddenly they will care about that.

These are just off the top of my head.  Given time, I'm sure I could come up with a 100 things that might make them wish to go back to being simple.
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Rayblon
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« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2015, 12:55:54 PM »

It's kind of impossible for us to guess what it would be like to be taken from life being so simple to suddenly life being extremely complicated.

"will know all the raw information you know, and will have their intelligence brought up to your own."

...in other words, they suddenly realize that they are naked. That their species is basically living only at the whim of another.  They will understand how short their own lives are and how little impact they have on the world... and suddenly they will care about that.

These are just off the top of my head.  Given time, I'm sure I could come up with a 100 things that might make them wish to go back to being simple.

These are indeed possible, and should be considered and planned for... but accessibility and visibility aren't very similar. They share your intelligence, but the same way I can't see the contents of my entire mind, they won't experience the information until they let it surface. In theory, at least.

Knowing what I know, there's hope. Tales of single people changing the world, the arbitrary nature of clothing, the mechanics of death and what must be done to prevent it...

And that's before even getting into the arts, literature, and various other things that are faaar from being anthropocentric that I know about.

If I've learned anything about animals in general, it's that they're used to dealing with impossible odds. If they're anything like me, then they'd be challenging those odds head-on.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2015, 10:05:45 PM by Rayblon » Logged

Rayblon
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« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2015, 09:23:00 PM »

All that said, I guess it depends on what you know and believe in. If I spent my days slaughtering pigs and knew juuust the right way to slice them up... it would not be pleasent for an enlightened swine.

I wonder, if you have a sudden jump in intelligence like that... would you even notice it? Presumably, their thought processes wouldn't change, and without a need or stimulus to access the information or intelligence, it may not be affected at all until you speak to it or something.

I'm not sure if we can use the term "simple" to descrbe animal life and concerns. Their lives seem just as complex as ours, just in a different way.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2015, 10:05:09 PM by Rayblon » Logged

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