[Serious] Atheist Dogma

[Belacqua]

Outside our human species, sure, I wouldn't put it past other species of being superstitious. Other species certainly don't have human language. 

But I do know that my cat wipes it's paws on the floor just before drinking out of his water bowl. He also wakes me up every morning by jumping on my side in bed and digging into my ear to wake me up to feed him. 

I agree, other species don't have our concepts to a human language level. But other species DO seek patterns, and act on their observations. 

I think it is ignorant to assume humans are the only species that tries to figure things out. Humans are good at being humans, but we are not good at being cockroaches. How is it a cockroach you spot, suddenly knows you are after it and runs away? It isn't praying to cockroach god, but if the metric of "success" was based on numbers, humans should pray to a cockroach god. 

I am being sarcastic of course. But especially now, with this pandemic going on, I do get pissed at humans worldwide whom think we are an apex as a species. We are merely one species among trillions. Humans are actually an invasive species. We growingly conquer and consume, but our Achilles Heel is that we are increasingly becoming a victim of our own success.

It's a fascinating topic, and one that I suspect people have only begun to learn about. We have been very anthropocentric. 

When people taught gorillas to use sign language, it was clear that the gorillas had emotions. They could also lie. So there's a lot going on there. As to how concepts appear -- from the simplest animals to the more complex -- that would be interesting to know about. 

One of the things that should keep us modest is the knowledge that there are some concepts that some animals just can't get. Apparently rats can solve mazes based on pretty complex math, for example, but never manage a maze based on prime numbers. So rats just can't get that concept. It makes you wonder what is beyond the level of human possibility -- and if there are aliens out there who can get those things.