Evidence of Animal Insentience

I have been collecting Instagram videos of animals for years. These videos are evidence of the fact that animals are not sentient. They mostly show bugs and nonsensical behavior, things that wouldn’t happen if animals were sentient.

Some of the same bugs are present in several different animals of the same species, and even across species, meaning those bugs must be genetic. It also means animals execute their genetic programming uncritically. What all of these videos have in common is that the animals are not critical. I think the ability to be critical is a necessary requirement for sentience.

Many of these videos are hilarious but I list them for serious analysis. The comments people posted on those videos are worth reading, too. People often realize how nonsensical, even robotic animals are but then don’t draw the logical conclusion that animals aren’t sentient.

Over the years, people who think animals are sentient have challenged me to explain dozens of different behaviors in terms of insentience. Which I did every time. So here’s my challenge: explain every single video below in terms of sentience. And after you’re done, I will have another list just as long. (I have many more videos saved but stopped listing them at some point – I think the list below is exhaustive already.)

The videos are mostly of cats because I like cats and Instagram shows me more of those. But there are some other animals too, like dogs and different kinds of birds, a snail and a bear, etc.

• You can infiltrate a pack of wolves and trick them into thinking you’re a wolf just by enacting certain behaviors: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-SXi8gqzoq/
• Moles will try to dig through anything, they don’t know what soil is: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-KyJs0sIir/
• Cat ‘thinks’ it ate laser dot: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-CGfAoCN6_/ Just playing with cats in general rests on artificially triggering their hunting algorithm
• Nest-building is basically a vestigial feature of pigeons, they don’t know what they’re doing: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9uxx0huFeR/
• Dog reacts to sound of bowl like a robot: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-HDZBftCOv/
• Kneading
  • Cat mom ‘kneads’ baby (this makes no sense because kneading is supposed to stimulate milk flow): https://www.instagram.com/p/C7pCa5pvZDP/
  • Cats ‘knead’ anything soft enough: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9-vn9rvpub/
  • Raccoons do that, too, they’ll even ‘knead’ the air, ie nothing at all: https://www.instagram.com/p/C96j8rqOjid/
  • Cat ‘kneading’ the air: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9jb3ibJk04/
• Related to kneading, breastfeeding in general is just messed up in cats.
  • Cat sucks owner’s neck: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6RJc1dg2ac/
  • Adult cats feed on nipples along with kitten: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6U5oE2JLgz/
• Tricking animals by ‘disappearing’
  • You can trick a dog into thinking you’ve disappeared by pulling a lampshade over your head: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9bES6WuuGb/
  • You can trick a goat into thinking the same by pulling a bag over yourself: https://www.instagram.com/p/C79KyXnxUbU/
• You can ‘deactivate’ a cat like a robot if you grab it the right way: https://www.instagram.com/p/C25kspFSqOz/
• Cat ‘thinks’ owner in photo can be touched: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9_wziSOjSg/
• Animals being fooled by decoys
  • Cat ‘thinks’ its toy bear is its kitten and tries to feed it: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9uvNGUuQnr/
  • Cat ‘thinks’ squeaky toy is a real (and dangerous) animal: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9woPplPPgJ/
• You can deactivate sharks’ hunting instinct basically on command if you just stop behaving like prey: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9nDeDipBvd/
• Animals indiscriminately imitate people:
  • Cat using computers: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9rEuDgIiKc/, https://www.instagram.com/p/C5gAnpPyaWC/
  • Cat biting: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9wo5inIci2/
  • Cat ‘brushing hair’: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9UxPnTIfN_/
  • Cat imitating owner’s position: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9CwzZsS1jH/
  • Cats imitating language/sounds: ‘Hello’: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8ZDbnDvbMJ/; ‘Buongiorno’: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8E-0TLi8gW/; ‘Mamma’: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6pLUK4y8Q-/
• Kitten moves like its bunny friend: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8SkJ0tSpk5/
• “A study has found that cats actually adopt their owner’s personality traits” (such studies are often questionable but given the evidence maybe there’s something to this one): https://www.instagram.com/p/C7kHWdKPiRP/
• Seagull ‘barks’: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7OqDyKurxJ/
• Cat joins hands: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7H5TB1yiWq/
• Cat tricked into using decoy keyboard: https://www.instagram.com/p/C64rLMXLmOD/
• Cat singing like owner: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4em43nRgu-/
• Deer bows in Japan: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4RIa1tohMS/
• Notable: Someone who owns cockatoo and dogs. Teaches dogs tricks, which involves repeating commands a lot, thus triggering the cockatoo’s imitation algorithm (even though the commands were not directed at it). Cockatoo then says commands randomly, causing the dogs to do the corresponding tricks! https://www.instagram.com/p/C6wb5whLhdJ/ It’s like those videos where people get Siri and Alexa to talk to each other
• Make cats fall asleep on command: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9txfCUuz8B/
• Purely nonsensical behavior
  • Cat ‘shadowboxing’: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9u9LbkoHc9/
  • ‘Zoomies’ in cats generally: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9lpGTpRo2D/, https://www.instagram.com/p/C7S0_1XINad/
• Dog ‘runs’ in mid air: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9WJuxHuJeI/ (Dogs also swim in mid air when held over water, or just things that look like water like a blue floor)
• Hawk keeps trying to snatch kitten through glass: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7mlt6IOga2/
• Cat thinks kitten is prey (the kicking): https://www.instagram.com/p/C6QDZfoJFhP/
• Cats hit bad-tasting things, presumably to kill poisonous/venomous animals, even when those things aren’t animals:
  • Lettuce: https://www.instagram.com/p/C81zZ5moqhH/
  • Potato chip: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8FbJSctfJN/
• Walking without progress
  • Cat ‘walks down’ ascending escalator forever: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7xSw3WJbrm/
  • Cat ‘walks up’ descending escalator forever: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4rMmg4OT5Y/ (in fairness this one stops occasionally)
  • Cat ‘walks’ in place while on leash: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6Xn3guyMUT/
  • Several different species cannot figure out hamster wheel. (Ignore misleading title saying they use it for ‘fun’ – a lot of animals that end up in the wheel simply don’t realize they’re not moving forward and so get stuck in it): https://www.instagram.com/p/C9NvpD3pXch/
  • Snail forever ‘walking’ on carrot: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6nrCqjIxxw/
• Rat sees other rat fall into trap, fooled by same trap only seconds later: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9FLnpBsBI8/
• Cat scratches the floor to cover poop. That works with dirt but not hard surfaces. Cat does not realize or care: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9XsYBMIFkX/
• Similarly, cat ‘thinks’ it can open pizza box by digging through imaginary dirt: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6cwqFpLih-/ (You can tell these behaviors are genetic because cats encounter dirt in the wild and may need to dig up food. And then you can tell cats aren’t sentient because they cannot adjust their inborn behavior to inside the home, where there is no dirt except in the litter box. They just execute their genes robotically/uncritically/mindlessly. Those words all mean the same thing.)
• You can trick a cat with cat noises: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9HjgHYx4s9/
• Buggy service dog executing commands at random like a broken robot: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9JQhYPuGa2/
• Cats ‘stirring up’ non-existent water
  • https://www.instagram.com/p/C9C59ztKRWZ/
  • https://www.instagram.com/p/C6yNAk_KSsQ/
  • Lots of videos of the same cat doing this: https://www.instagram.com/josephofwater/
• Chicks think decimal point on calculator is a grain: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8mMQJcKcfh/
• Similarly, you can draw a dot on a piece of paper and your cat will think it’s an insect and start hunting it even if the cat saw you drawing the dot: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4F_E8gJ-uI/
• Ducks robotically stand at attention. Guy recording even remarks it’s like a video game. (People liken animals to buggy robots all the time but don’t take their own remarks seriously): https://www.instagram.com/p/C8euAgnMZ28/
• Cats unable to enter open spaces
  • Cat can’t figure how to get out of open cage: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7zXByrJCwj/
  • Cat can’t figure out how to enter open window: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6xMrZJpISn/
• Cat thinks video-game cat is real, tries to pet it: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8it8apofv6/
• Man wears a kangaroo suit, tricks real kangaroo into entering pouch: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7-w_I1oiW5/
• Nonsensical ‘hunting’ behavior in cats
  • You can easily trigger a cat’s hunting behavior by repeatedly hiding behind a corner and reappearing: https://www.instagram.com/p/C75TiLdRTLO/
  • Sometimes, you don’t even need to do anything: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8Glq_fpLSx/
• Duckling that presumably imprinted on this human: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8ChA1vI1aq/ (Imprinting generally is evidence of how algorithmic animals are, they can be hacked just like computers)
• You can trigger ‘dancing’ in caterpillars on command: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8GDDQHR1_1/
• Cat thinks shadow is an animal it can hunt: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7-Zt2Bq-Uw/
• Cat takes way too long to figure out cat decoy: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7Rf1O1xjXh/
• A cat in heat will provide access to her behind upon hearing a man’s voice but not a woman’s voice: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7ULHVXJUxs/
• Cat thinks it’s on a rollercoaster (it’s just a video on a screen): https://www.instagram.com/p/C7HWp_WuCLG/
• Blanket triggers killing behavior (kicking hind legs) in cat: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6_VFFyJIYv/
• You can activate and deactivate pre-existing conflicts between cats on command: https://www.instagram.com/p/C48ZRD7pSAB/
• You can trick a protective cat mom into giving up her kittens if you don’t touch them directly but use a spatula: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6Kchakvw_k/
• Nonsensical drinking behavior in cat: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4TwsQxOViK/
• Classic: animals chasing their own tail: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4WTpqhSdyF/
• Bear that went in circles inside cage for 7 years keeps going in circles inside imaginary cage upon release: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4KbUUmq4_O/ The sad music suggests people think the bear is traumatized and scarred. No, it’s just buggy.