I like the idea of interacting with the dog normally as you would a 2-year-old human, while having the cameras running 24⁄7 so less biased people can look over the data.
Yeah it’s an important point that some phenomena (perhaps most phenomena) are impractical to recreate under a strict research protocol. If you tried to teach your dog with a very formal approach, you’d probably “lose the magic” that makes it happen. Kaj Sotala posted a comment that suggests that “incorrect” overinterpretation of babies’ behavior is actually an important mechanism by which the learning happens! It’s a slow, messy, iterative process to get that “meeting of minds”.
I also really like the research setup, and I’m glad they’re sourcing from several pet households. Most of the attention is on Bunny, because she’s the most coherent and is actively posted on YouTube, but I believe there are quite a few more people participating, they just don’t post it publicly.
And even though the learning process isn’t under strict protocol, you can still design more rigorous experiments. AFAIK the mirror near Bunny’s buttons was placed at the suggestion of the researchers specifically to see if she’ll recognize herself in the mirror.
Yeah it’s an important point that some phenomena (perhaps most phenomena) are impractical to recreate under a strict research protocol. If you tried to teach your dog with a very formal approach, you’d probably “lose the magic” that makes it happen. Kaj Sotala posted a comment that suggests that “incorrect” overinterpretation of babies’ behavior is actually an important mechanism by which the learning happens! It’s a slow, messy, iterative process to get that “meeting of minds”.
I also really like the research setup, and I’m glad they’re sourcing from several pet households. Most of the attention is on Bunny, because she’s the most coherent and is actively posted on YouTube, but I believe there are quite a few more people participating, they just don’t post it publicly.
And even though the learning process isn’t under strict protocol, you can still design more rigorous experiments. AFAIK the mirror near Bunny’s buttons was placed at the suggestion of the researchers specifically to see if she’ll recognize herself in the mirror.