>>14058387I can't really blame you for thinking like that, you're just a clueless normie who has never interacted with any animals for more than a few seconds. Probably not even with people. But if you had done that, you'd know more about the similarities and differences between animals and humans. First and foremost, people are always wearing a mask, a fake persona; when you talk to them, you are not really talking to 'them', but to the mask, which will give you an array of socially acceptable responses that have been carefully constructed over decades of social conditioning. An animal has no such things: it will reply in the most honest and truthful manner, always. Then again, animals are not very different from humans when it comes to their basic needs and desires: they want to eat, they want to play, they want to be comfortable, they want to have family and friends, they want to reproduce... Animals are also a strong reminder that life existed before humans, currently exists outside of human societies and will continue to exist even after we die. As our distant relatives, they are essential to understanding the true role and meaning of humanity in this universe. When I lost my dog to cancer a couple months ago, I didn't lose a tool. I lost a friend, a family member, a connection to the natural world, a part of myself.
