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Comment by lettergram | Hacker News Reader

Given my cat has figured out how to open three different kinds of doors (handle, slidding, and even knob) I'm sure they can figure that out.

Hell, my cat seems close to figuring out how to turn on our fire place. She goes and sits by the switch (out of her reach) and meows until we turn it on, then runs across the room to lay by it.

I'm confident given sometime they can count as well. Likely this would help them catch mice and what not, if they know how many there are.

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Sounds like she isn't close to figuring it out, she already has :)

Definitely - the easiest way to get something done is to have someone else to do it. Taming is a two-way process.

I can see some evolutionary advantages for a predatory animal like the cat in being able to subitize[1] (I suppose cats are also small enough to be prey themselves historically, so just as useful to count threats as opportunities). My cat like to turn on my bathroom faucet to play with the water, and will often unscrew the drain stopper once he's bored with that. I have to keep the drains closed and wire ties on the taps...

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subitizing

Historically? Round us, there are various predators (wild and feral) that would happily feed on a cat - hawks, owls, goannas, snakes, foxes, wild dogs. Mainly nocturnal, we keep our cats in at night (so they don't prey on native nocturnals themselves too). Plus our dogs roam the home yard, which helps keep predators at bay. We've had sheep killed though, and chickens, plus a rabbit that only has one ear left. People sometimes talk about a "natural death" as if it is some kind of peaceful alternative - but most deaths in nature involve being eaten alive by another animal.

The cat I had growing up had similar skills with doors, among other annoyingly intelligent behaviors. The only thing saving us from world wide cat domination is that cats aren't particularly social and don't really teach their young these skills.

> world wide cat domination

I'm careful to never let my cat have access to my computer. Otherwise she'd get on the Intercat and plot the Cat-astrophe.

It might already be too late: http://infinitecat.com/infinite/cat1.html

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