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What a smart horse!

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What a smart horse! Empty What a smart horse!

Post by Placebo Messiah Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:59 pm

I've come to think that many animals are much smarter than they let on to us, most likely to keep us from exploiting them. They usually keep their secret well, but they sometimes let down their guard.

A century ago, Wilhelm von Osten, a retired schoolteacher in Germany, had the same idea that I did, so he began testing some animals. A cat flunked, a bear flunked, but a horse passed with flying colors. This horse could read, do arithmetic, keep track of time, follow world affairs, etc. He became known as Clever Hans, and he soon became a minor celebrity. Von Osten displayed him all over Germany, and his fame crossed the Atlantic, with the New York Times writing an article about him.

The horse could answer questions like "How much is twice the square root of nine, less one?" (5) and "Is Moscow the capital of Russia?" (No) "Is St. Petersburg?" (Yes) and "If the eighth day of the month comes on a Tuesday, what is the date of the following Friday?” (11th)

But along came a skeptic, psychologist Oskar Pfungst, and he claimed that Clever Hans had been inadvertently trained to pick up cues from his audience. What a dweeb, unable to comprehend Clever Hans's intellect. He must have led an absolutely boring life, unable to comprehend anything that could make life worth living. And the worst of it is, he felt that he had to force other people to live lives as boring as his life. Such is the way of the world, with skeptics unable to comprehend anything outside their narrow mindsets, unwilling to accept that there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in their narrow philosophies.

Here is Clever Hans in action:

What a smart horse! CleverHans
Placebo Messiah
Placebo Messiah
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What a smart horse! Empty Re: What a smart horse!

Post by Placebo Messiah Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:40 pm

You might be saying "How did Clever Hans talk? Horses can't talk, and the most they can do is neigh." He certainly could not talk, but he gave his answers in other ways.

He counted by tapping the ground with his hoof, and he answered "yes" and "no" by shaking his head in the appropriate directions.

I do have to concede that I was being a bit too hard on skeptics there. I really can't understand why anyone would willingly condemn themselves to the drab and boring and colorless existence that skeptics have. Do they really snuggle themselves that much?
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