>In a way, this is not much different from foundational understandings in human–robot interactions, strengthening the claim in many humanities and environmental fields that humans should analytically be considered an animal
That seems a bit reversed to me. As a biologist, I fully agree that humans are animals and a lot of our behavior is evolved instinct not very different from other animals, but the traditional humanities way of thinking is that biology is irrelevant to understanding humans who are thought to be completely influenced by their culture and not their genes.
Wouldn't it be likely that smell has something to do with why animals don't treat robots as animals? After all, lots of animals use scent to some degree to help identify each other. A robot won't smell like anything they recognise - either friend or foe - so they would likely ignore it.
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[ 5.1 ms ] story [ 28.4 ms ] thread"I Bought a Robot Cat for My Rabbit — and Fell Into the Weird World of Animal-Robot Research"
That seems a bit reversed to me. As a biologist, I fully agree that humans are animals and a lot of our behavior is evolved instinct not very different from other animals, but the traditional humanities way of thinking is that biology is irrelevant to understanding humans who are thought to be completely influenced by their culture and not their genes.
I half expected a reference to the recent game Stray, where a cat finds itself in a robot occupied city and tries to find a way out.
This reminds of the "Spy in the wild" BBC series, which takes a different take on that. One of the scene I remember the most is this:
Langur monkeys grieve over fake monkey | Spy in the Wild - BBC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaIH5tLmC8U