Animals are people too!

If robots are considered people, one can make the argument that non-human animals are people too. What exactly sets us apart from other animals? People have debated this question again and again, and the more we learn about animals, the more that we discover our similarities.

Tools: This was one example that people believed set us apart from other animals. Jane Goodall discovered that chimpanzees use tools, and more people have discovered the tools that other animals use.

Language: People argue that animals can’t communicate like humans do. It is true that not all animals have vocal communication, but they do have ways of communicating such as pheromones. As for vocal communication- prairie dogs have an extensive vocabulary that includes nouns and adjectives.

Emotions: As anyone can notice with pets, animals do have emotions. They may not have as many as humans (or do they?), but they at least have basic emotions such as joy, sadness, and anger. Animals will also grieve for their loved ones.

Empathy: Here is the main thing that people argue robots will never have. Do animals have empathy? Here is an interesting article about empathetic animals. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-animals-feel-empathy I will also say that elephants in particular will wait for injured elephants to catch up in their group.

Art: People argue that animals do not create art. http://scienceblogs.com/bioephemera/2008/03/can_animals_create_art.php has a very interesting article about elephants that do art. Whether they were trained specifically how to paint the picture, or if the image symbolizes anything to these animals is unknown.

Animals eat, reproduce, and have so many more similarities to humans. So are animals people too?