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RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

Do cows see cars?

Asked by RealEyesRealizeRealLies (30960points) November 22nd, 2010

I’ve been photographing a lot of cows lately. Quaint little scenes of roadside farms and stuff. They, the cows, seem unaffected by the traffic passing by. Do they see them? More importantly, Can they see them?

Are cars within the scope of reality that a cow can consider?

Obviously, this question might be retitled as “What is Reality”?

Are there realities that we as humans are incapable of detecting? Realities that are all around us but we only see glimpses of, mistakenly claiming them as ghosts, or magic, or miracles?

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29 Answers

Coloma's avatar

I am sure they do, they are just conditioned to not pay much attention.

I do not know if they are color blind, but, my geese ( who see in color ) are very aware of MY car coming home.

They can hear my car at my mailbox a ¼ mile down the road and start shrieking when they hear me coming.

My neigh-bors, 2 mules and 3 mini-donkeys often follow my car up the driveway after getting treats from me. Braying the whole time as I disappear.

She who brings apples is gone…so sad. lol

iamthemob's avatar

Sure they do. They just don’t give a shit.

FutureMemory's avatar

You’ve obviously never read any Gary Larson.

link

I’m talking about the comic panels btw, not whatever that text says. GL is a cartoonist.

FutureMemory's avatar

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies Are there realities that we as humans are incapable of detecting? Realities that are all around us but we only see glimpses of, mistakenly claiming them as ghosts, or magic, or miracles?

…could there be some really tiny teeny weeny super teensy little unicorns, dragons, and fairies inside your brain somewhere?

Coloma's avatar

@FutureMemory

I LOVE Gary Larson, sheer genius!
Gotta dig up the Farside books for a re-visiting!

josie's avatar

Sure. They just don’t know what they are.

marinelife's avatar

They think of them as other large animals.

FutureMemory's avatar

@Coloma Yes! One of a kind. His books if I remember correctly were rather small, but he put out at least 10 I think? I’d like to get one large compendium of his work if such a thing exists.

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

Bingo! @josie… You get the prize!

And if they don’t know what they are, then they cannot possibly see cars.

An infant human does not, and cannot possibly see a sky scraper.

Coloma's avatar

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies

Cows follow feed trucks on ranches, they know that the trucks pitch hay at them.

We can see something that does not compute with anything familiar to our minds but it doesn’t make us blind to the object.

Unreactive does not equate with physical blindness to an object.

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

Seeing the object does not equate to knowing the essence of feed truck.

jonsblond's avatar

@josie Sure. They just don’t know what they are

True. Explain this for me though. This past summer my husband and I went four wheeling through the pasture at the ranch he works at. The cows will let us come right up to them. Some will let us pet them. We had to be careful our dogs didn’t follow us though. As soon as they see our dogs, they chase after the dogs. Why do they perceive the dogs as a threat, but now two people on a four wheeler?

ucme's avatar

Pull the udder one, it’s got bells on.

wundayatta's avatar

Only on left-handed Tuesdays.

Coloma's avatar

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies

Haha..ookay, I wasn’t aware that we were talking about ‘essence’ here.

Tricky, tricky…lol

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

Are cars within the scope of reality that a cow can consider?

Obviously, this question might be retitled as “What is Reality”?

josie's avatar

@jonsblond
Because size matters.
The dog is small to the cow and subject to territorial bullying.
The four wheeler is just a big critter to the cow. More information needed before it runs away or fights.

jonsblond's avatar

@josie Interesting. Thanks for answering. :)

Coloma's avatar

Well, cows can recognize their favorite back scratching tree even if they don’t compute the essence of ‘tree.’

Reality is much simpler for animals, they don’t have the mind locomotive always at full steam, they just accept whatever comes into their moment without question.

Since they have no preconceived ideas about what constitutes ‘reality’ they simply are.

Humans are the only species obsessed with defining reality. lol

This is the beauty of animals, always here now. ;-)

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

We would all do well to acknowledge the BoVinity of cows.

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

So, can an infant see a sky scraper?

Coloma's avatar

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies

An infants inability to see a skyscraper is based on physical immaturity of vision, I don’t see the comparison.

If you mean does the infant experience no skyscrapers in their reality, then yes, but lack of vision does not mean the skyscraper doesn’t exist, it just doesn’t exist in their particular limited ‘reality.’ lol

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

That’s the point I’m attempting to make. Are there realities that humans are incapable of detecting, but are there nonetheless? Should science be so bold to claim that it does, or is even capable of understanding everything? Should science be so bold to deny any possibilities on matters that it does not hold all the capable awareness of?

To deny something exists is just as errant to claim that something exists, when all things equal, there are just not enough facts to make an intelligent statement either way.

josie's avatar

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies It doesn’t make sense to pretend that something is there without some sort of evidence that it actually is.
If you claim that nothing is actually something, then there is no difference between what you know and what you imagine.
But in reality, there actually is a difference between what you know and what you imagine.
So to pretend otherwise would be irrational, and thus dishonest, and thus immoral.

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

There is no creation from humanity that exists in reality that wasn’t first imagined. The difference between real and imagined is not so great. It just depends on how far one desires to pursue the imagined object.

A cow cannot see a car because a cow has no capability to understand what the essence of a car is.

A infant cannot see a sky scraper because an infant has no capability to understand what the essence of a sky scraper is.

flutherother's avatar

Of course cows see cars but they are not obsessed with them as we are.

DerangedSpaceMonkey's avatar

I would assume they can, but of course I’ve never asked one to be sure. Would you do that for me?

Coloma's avatar

Well..right now I am very much enjoying the reality of my Sierra Nevada Tumbler, Autumn brown ale.

Aaaah, quite the essence! lol

wundayatta's avatar

There are almost certainly realities out there that are not yet able to detect. But we’re looking for them.

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