#intelligent cats

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

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Good Caturnight, intelligent cats :)

[meowmoedotcom]

Havana Brown Cats 101: Amazing Cat Facts In 60 Seconds 🐱🕒

meowmoe.com

[trafalgarlawsdepression]

dumb bitches

[chipsy]

[dangans-ur-ronpas]

obsessed with this 4koma. what do you mean that's your first friend. i mean im guess im not surprised but are you serious

[terastalungrad]

I'm reading Life in Code by Ellen Ullman, writings on tech and philosophy.

I love the chapter "Is Sadie the Cat a Trick?", where Ullman talks of the 19 years she had with her cat Sadie, and - while reflecting on Artificially Intelligence - wonders whether the relationship between them was an illusion.

Was Sadie merely behaving according to her "programming"? Was Ullman merely imagining sentience?

Ullman considers various aspects of her relationship with Sadie. First, companionship. Second, familiarity:

[H]er coming to meet me at the door (even when her bowl was full, so it was not in the hope of getting dinner). There was mutual recognition of ritual: I knew the time of day when she moved to her favourite chair to take the sun, so I anticipated it and raised the shade. She knew I wrote in the morning, and, before I got to the desk, she was lying on her pillow by the heater, which had not yet been turned on. If it were just warmth she'd wanted, she could have stayed in bed with Elliot, who was living with me by then. Instead, she decided she would wait for me by a cold heater.

I love this paragraph very much. This reflection on the familiar behaviour of a pet, ostensibly to work out if there's a difference between a pet and sufficiently advanced AI. But also, it seems to me that this is an investigation into love itself.

Did Ullman's cat love her? Do any of our pets love us?

Instinctively, we think "yes". Ullman has applied a programmer's mind - and a philosopher's mind - to the question:

Companionship, familiarity, expectation, mutual recognition, bodily comfort: if this is not a definition of love between aging creatures, I don't know what is.

I'm away from home for a few days, with gigs in London and Birmingham. I always miss my wife when I'm away, and this essay hasn't helped at all thank you.

It makes me think of our own rituals. Sometimes - not often - I'm awake before Elanor. I know what time her alarm will go off, so I join her in bed a minute before, so she wakes up gently to a cuddle before the cold brutality of the alarm. When I'm working in the study, Elanor will sometimes open the door a crack, and wait to be invited in.

This is the difference between love and programming. Last time I was away, Elanor defrosted the freezer - an accomplishment of immense bravery and determination. She didn't tell me this, but when I came home she challenged me to work out what chore she'd done while I was away - knowing that, letting me discover this action by opening the freezer would be the best possible way for me to find out she'd done this.

How did Elanor know this? We've been together 20 years this month. Perhaps she reflected on the fact that I'm delighted by surprise, and by playfulness. Maybe she thought about the way I like stories - and that investigating the house, searching for new jobs completed, would give me the thrill of an adventure. It's possible she considered my love of novelty and shared experiences - and came up with this way of presenting her accomplishment according to these principles; these techniques for controlling the reveal.

All of this *could* be true. That Elanor consciously processed, analysed the data. Her understanding of me. Maybe, perhaps, possibly.

But I think she just knew.

Familiarity. Expectation. Recognition. Love between aging creatures!

People are so excited that generative AI can produce ugly pictures and bland copy. But I don't think it would curl up in front of a cold heater in an empty study.

Because any relationship with a program is an illusion. It isn't love. Because love isn't defrosting the freezer. Love is defrosting the freezer while your partner's away, anticipating their response, looking forward to their joy.

[probablyasocialecologist]

In one example, shared on Reddit, a user had been talking about jazz albums to listen to on vinyl. Its answer soon devolved into shouting “Happy listening!” at the user and talking nonsense. Others found that asking simple questions – such as “What is a computer?” – generated paragraphs upon paragraphs of nonsense. “It does this as the good work of a web of art for the country, a mouse of science, an easy draw of a sad few, and finally, the global house of art, just in one job in the total rest,” read one example answer to that question, shared on Reddit. The development of such an entire real than land of time is the depth of the computer as a complex character.” In another example, ChatGPT spouted gibberish when asked how to make sundried tomatoes. One of the steps told users to “utilise as beloved”: “Forsake the new fruition morsel in your beloved cookery”, ChatGPT advised people. Others found that the system appeared to be losing a grip on the languages that it speaks. Some found that it appeared to be mixing Spanish words with English, using Latin – or seemingly making up words that appeared as if they were from another language, but did not actually make sense.

[...]

It is not the first time that ChatGPT has changed its manner of answering questions, seemingly without developer OpenAI’s input. Towards the end of last year, users complained the system had become lazy and sassy, and refusing to answer questions.

There's some funny screenshots in this thread.

[razzafrazzle]

strange old men!! theyre married for tax purposes (and gay purposes but thats less important)

[image description: a drawing of human designs for coach z and bubs from homestar runner. coach z is depicted as a lanky pale-skinned older man with a tooth gap, a five-o'clock shadow, and balding curly light brown hair with a grey streak through it. bubs is depicted as a bulky, dark-skinned older man with short greying afro hair and a short beard. end id]

[fidjiefidjie]

Ils lui ont donné un chat 🐈 pour voir si elle sourirait dans la version générée par l'IA du 🖼 tableau de Mona Lisa .....

Source: Volkan

[mourningsbane]

I couldn’t find any info on mourningsbane (is it a plant you created for the story?) buutttt I do know that lilies are poisonous to cats, which is just casually growing in the healer’s den… hmmm suspicious. As for why Tanglefern would (theoretically) do this? I have no clue! Bearface and Honeyspring were friends, but that’s about as much as I know! Maybe his biggest mistake was killing Honeyspring too early

Having a blast reading this and throughly enjoying the art with it, I can’t wait to see where this goes!!

Mourningsbane (and its partner, Clottingroot, was created for the story! Mourningsbane itself, though resembling lilies, is not a true lily. It's actually in the Veratrum genus and contains veratridine and 2-Deoxyjervine.

Clottingroot is a flowering plant that heavily mimics Mourningsbane to deter predation. It's called Clottingroot by the clans because its roots are gathered, crushed, and rubbed into moss to encourage blood clotting.

It's an easy mistake to make, isn't it?

[iknowmorethanyou]

Follow me for more ❤️

[squiggl3]

I just think he’s funny

[bugboybuck]

hear me out: bucktommy move in together. tommy says he really wants to get a dog. he's always wanted a dog and he thinks it's a perfect pet bc it will be adorable and friendly and loving and loyal and energetic, and it can go hiking with them and join in all their active hobbies, so it'll fit well into their lives while also being an excitable ball of cuteness. but buck thinks they should get a cat! because he loves that they're kind of bitchy animals while also being very loving when they care about you, that they're still cute but more low-maintenance and also great long-term companions, and their balance of calmer more relaxed energy (interspersed with weird high-energy moments of entertainment) is soothing to him. neither of them see the irony in their arguments.

[press-the-buttoooonnsss]

CORE DOODLES!! Planning on making a roommate au with the portal2 ones

[greencheekconure27]

Hot take

[queenangst]

LOVED this chapter but apothecary left on a cliffhanger AGAIN ahfbajfbsjbfg