tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post1614470554649586109..comments2024-02-06T16:17:25.826+00:00Comments on THE GRØNMARK BLOG: Do cats have Asperger's - or do they inhabit a parallel universe?Scott Gronmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-84122870132855552972011-11-23T20:41:31.116+00:002011-11-23T20:41:31.116+00:00Now you are explaining the relation between your o...Now you are explaining the relation between your opinions and your bottom, your comment is making more sense.Torsten Vorstennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-78637931859711881452011-11-20T19:20:01.810+00:002011-11-20T19:20:01.810+00:00Torsten - are you absolutely sure you're Swedi...Torsten - are you absolutely sure you're Swedish? Most of my fellow Swedes are more au fait with English than you appear to be. Are you sure you're not an Estonian immigrant? Or, in fact, English, as their English is often quite appalling? Heaven only knows what you lot get up to in Uppsala, but here in Ystad once a year, we sacrifice a herd of elk in front of a bronze effigy of a naked Richard Dawkins. After the beasts have been slain and we have drunk their blood and had lots of blond sex, the Government-appointed Priest of Science addresses the effigy's buttocks. If we, the inhabitants of Ystad, have forsworn God for the past year, the bottom makes noises for days on end, which the priest interprets, and these interpretations are written down, arranged into chapters, and published throughout the world in book form with titles such as "Who'd Be Stupid Enough to believe in God That's What I'd Like to Know?" and "God? Pull the Other One!"<br /><br />You Uppsalans must be utter barbarians!Kurt Wallandernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-67628962770526954332011-11-20T19:05:22.649+00:002011-11-20T19:05:22.649+00:00Mind you, Mr Moss, apparently many scientists beli...Mind you, Mr Moss, apparently many scientists believe that Einstein's theories necessitate the existence of trillions, zillions or an infinity of parallel universes - every time anything happens in our universe, the opposite must happen somewhere else, so a parallel universe is instantaneously created (I'm hazy on the science, despite having read two books on the subject many years ago). So I think we could then square the circle by positing the theory that cats - indeed all creatures - somehow exist in two universes at once, just as we do from their point of view (physical and mental?). These various universes are all objectively real - every creature is simply restricted as to how many they can perceive.<br /><br />Next question....angry-looking don at the back there, holding the "Anyone who thinks God exists is a Poo" sign...Scott Gronmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-30941522806271100462011-11-20T10:20:36.792+00:002011-11-20T10:20:36.792+00:00Torsten, here in the UK we have the highest regard...Torsten, here in the UK we have the highest regard for a country that uses elk's pee to flavour its licorice. Higher still, if that's possible, for a country whose university libraries find no need to stock Dawkins.<br /><br />The issue you raise about the soul causes me to reach for help from the world's major philosophers and political thinkers. Kriss Akabusi, Bill Nighy, Naomi Klein,... It's a tricky one.<br /><br />When Immanuel Kant hosted that famous TV panel, the strong view of the studio audience was that all animals were able to perceive the world – their world – whether or not they had a soul. The transcendental unity of apperception, etc ...<br /><br />The regrettable fight that broke out between panellists Rolf Harris and Frank Kermode over animals being able to go to Heaven, I think <i>that's</i> where your question has traction, and where we must await the outcome of further research by our leading social scientists.David Mosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12345636878071983416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-67221779701378035182011-11-19T14:58:57.041+00:002011-11-19T14:58:57.041+00:00If you add worms and dromedaries into the reality ...If you add worms and dromedaries into the reality equation, that makes four. And there are being plenty more of animals, such as the elk, what we like much here in Sweden. On the other leg, the scripture will tell that only humans has the soul. If the soul is the way to percepting reality, then there is only being one of realities, which is leaving the elk out in the spiritual forest (which is being a bit sad). Who is Dawkins? There is not any book about him in our library in Uppsala.Torsten Vorstennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-81976839964663919362011-11-19T12:43:03.559+00:002011-11-19T12:43:03.559+00:00I read this book once, Thought and Reality, by Mic...I read this book once, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thought-Reality-Lines-Michael-Dummett/dp/019955224X/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321706009&sr=1-9" rel="nofollow"><i>Thought and Reality</i></a>, by Michael Dummett.<br /><br />Bishop Berkeley was right, says Dummett. <i>Esse est percipi</i>. Humans perceive the world one way, and cats perceive it another way. So that's two realities, not one.<br /><br />That's no good if you want to be scientific. Dummett says that if you want to be rational and practical, you have to believe that there is only one reality. He's not saying that he believes that. But scientists must. Dawkinses. One reality only.<br /><br />There's a circle here that needs to be squared. The humans apprehend one reality and the cats another, but if you want to hold to the belief that there is only one reality, then there must be some superhuman and superfeline being perceiving it.<br /><br />So Dawkins has to believe in God.<br /><br />Next question, please, that lady at the back in the charming cerise blouse ...David Mosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12345636878071983416noreply@blogger.com