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Robotswithpersonality

The Wisdom of Sheep: Observations from a Family Farm | Rosamund Young

Priorities...😏

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Robotswithpersonality

The Wisdom of Sheep: Observations from a Family Farm | Rosamund Young

Sucks to 'learn the hard way' on an industrial scale, and it does feel like a lot of agricultural practice I've read about lately is attempting to mitigate or undo what seemed like a good idea before. 😖

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Robotswithpersonality

The Wisdom of Sheep: Observations from a Family Farm | Rosamund Young

Evocative, idyllic, but also, thank goodness for laws that keep children off heavy machinery, and advances that add cabs and roll bars to heavy machinery.

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Robotswithpersonality

The Creative Lives of Animals | Carol Gigliotti

so-so

Too much. This book tried to do way too much. As a premise, I love the idea of an art educator, someone who has spent serious time in creative fields, investigating through reading previous research and interviewing various scientists (ethologists [animal behaviour], evolutionary biologists, psychologists and neuroscientists, etc), and collating the results to convey how animal behaviours lend credence not just to the emerging preponderance 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? data supporting intelligence, sentience, emotion in many animal species, but specifically creativity.
I think it's fair to say that Gigliotti is fighting a constant battle against traditional, anthropocentric views of what constitutes creativity, she's cognizant of the need to expand the definition.
Indeed, expansion is the word of the day for this book, because I think the clearest thing it conveys is the need to keep an open mind. 3d

Robotswithpersonality 3/? I love that championing animal welfare is such a strong theme throughout the book, unfortunately I must warn my my fellow animal lovers, prepare for accounts of animal abuse, animal experimentation, captivity of wild animals and animal death.
The epilogue crystallizes the book's stuffed intentions by moving beyond considerations of animal creativity to conflate creativity with biodiversity in an effort to cram in the few last pages pleas 3d

Robotswithpersonality 4/? to look after the planet's inhabitants threatened by climate change and other anthropogenic consequences.
Gigliotti's heart is in the right place, but my sense is that you could pick up any one of the vast number of books or studies she quotes from/consults the authors of, and gain a sharper delineation of where the science is currently and all the hopes science has for studies in the future. 3d

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Robotswithpersonality 5/? I love that the past couple decades have moved so many more people not just in the science community, but in the population at large into thinking more and differently about the individual identity, ability and value of animals, beyond their value or their habitat's value as a resource to humanity, but I, especially in the last year or so, need to know that whatever argument is being put forward is being backed up by multiple trusted sources, 3d

Robotswithpersonality 6/? and that any speculation beyond what the research proves is clearly labeled as such. I don't think Gigliotti is attempting to misguide, I just think she's inferring more than I would based on the evidence she provides.
And perhaps the largest reason I have mixed feelings about this book: animals or their advocates shouldn't need to prove that they're special, unique, even in something as fundamental as fulfilling specific biological niches, 3d

Robotswithpersonality 7/7 to deserve life and protection.

P.S. I cannot recommend the audiobook, I tried twice and didn't get far either time. It takes longer, but if you're going to read this book, (and I don't necessarily recommend it over other similar books in the field that I have yet to read) chances are you'll be happier reading it in print.

⚠️animal abuse, animal experimentation, captivity of wild animals, animal death (edited) 3d

Kitta As someone who did animal research during their PhD, I find it‘s widely misunderstood. We work to reduce, refine and replace animals wherever possible but it just isn‘t possible sometimes. The behavioural and neuroscience testing reveals a lot about creative problem solving and emotional intelligence in animals! I hope the book reflects that and that I‘m being defensive over nothing. It‘s a touchy subject for me. 3d

Robotswithpersonality @Kitta Oh definitely provided evidence/research re: creative problem solving and emotional intelligence, no shade to any of the scientists, their work or their cautious conclusions, I just honestly think I would have been better served as a reader getting it all directly from those sources rather than through Gigliotti's earnest but perhaps overreaching agenda. (edited) 3d

Kitta @Robotswithpersonality great to hear! I agree it‘s better to get stuff from those sources directly. Sounds like this one wasn‘t amazing. 3d

Robotswithpersonality @Kitta I want every scrap of evidence out there that has the possibility of getting humans to treat animals better, (even if that shouldn't be necessary to care) but I always worry that if anybody finds someone's made a claim without the facts to back it up that it will go worse for the welfare of various beings, hence my paranoia when moving from 'this study shows' to 'we could then posit...' 😬 3d

Kitta @Robotswithpersonality agreed! As a scientist I do feel that we get training on how to read scientific papers with a cautious and exacting eye, which most people won‘t be able to do without having background knowledge and that training. So I appreciate when people write science books for a general audience - however the conclusions need to be supported! And uncertainty explained! Or it could absolutely backfire. 3d

Robotswithpersonality @Kitta ♥️🙌🏻 3d

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