#ahimsa
#tribevibes
#steemmonster
#utopian
#mindbodyspirit
#indymedia
#promo-steem
#teamsteem
#philosophy
#consciousness
#animalrights


<center>
![animal1.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdbbtgEiLkVDkyh28DNvyY3UxktpzTfULKZX6jBvJ8GkY/animal1.jpg)
</center>

I had a conversation with a friend over the weekend in regards to the intelligence of non-human animals in which he asserted that animals do not understand the future.

This is a common argument I’ve heard made by people  to justify why it may be permissible for humans to consume them and it still seems to be a pervasive one so I thought I’d unpack the assertion.

The more you learn about other animals i.e dogs, cats, pigs, fish, ants, don’t even get me started on dolphins and orcas, the more you realize that there is a common level of intelligence across all sentient life forms. 

If animals such as dogs didn’t have a sense of the future, why do they make plans for later scenarios like digging holes under the ground and hiding bones to exhume at a later time? Why do they create nests to feed their young and protect them from the elements i.e rain and other foreseeable events?


<b>All that is needed for an understanding of linear time is to prepare for and anticipate possibilities. </b>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSk3hyhdAh0

Non-human animals generally do not have as advanced a concept of predicting future events as humans because they do not have the same level of cognitive faculties and a system for identifying human units of time hasn’t or can’t be easily communicated to them. However by merely observing their behavior, it is clear that they do in fact have their own mechanisms for distinguishing not only past from present but for navigating possible future scenarios.

We understand through tests that animals such as pigs have a similar intellect level to that of a 3-4 year old child and most 2-3 year olds have the capacity to understand time and the future. I remember as early as being 2-3 and thinking about what I wanted to do for a living when I was older.

There’s a common theme of philosophers and scientists in history greatly underestimating the intellect of other sentient being and things they do not understand. Less than 100 years ago the scientific community advocated that black people did not have any higher intellect and were simply proficient at imitating what they observed.

That being said, the future does not exist. It’s a construct created by humans to help us navigate reality so in a sense, animals don’t see the future, at least in the same way we interpret it however they have their own understanding of ‘time’ or may even perceive something closer to what we refer to as ‘the future’ than us humans through  more finely tuned senses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QsPWitQovM