Have you meet a cat? If they could talk it would be like talking to a spoiled todler. They will only do what they want and make a scene if you don't do what they want right now! I think it would be worst for the humas. I know my life would be (more) ruled by my cats.
this post was submitted on 28 May 2024
44 points (94.0% liked)
Asklemmy
43905 readers
1039 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy π
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Why would they have to? It's not like they need food, clothes, or shelter, they know how to sustain themselves without the help of money when it comes to those things. Besides, they already serve a good role.
Yes, we would That is why they dont talk
Dogs working contribute to society, but don't talk. I don't know why being able to talk would suddenly change things for cats.
Cats are smart enough to let their humans work for them.
*sorry, we're on lemmy, let me rephrase :) *
Cats are the OG capitalist who let human feed them, house them and clean their shit while they sleep
We all like to joke about cats leeching but they're definitely not Capitalist. They're hunter gatherers for whom the concept of hoarding resources doesn't exist. To them, when there's plenty, you vie for it all within the social group (seems there are hierarchies?) and no one has to go hungry and there's no waste (including wasted energy). This also preserves plenty of leisure and social time.
If raised in an environment where it makes sense to hunt and you encourage them to do so, they'll happily contribute what they believe to be palatable food. If left alone, reasonably fit cats can fend for themselves too if necessary.
They'll take what shelter they get and bury their waste so it can fertilize the ground.
Parrots and Crows talk and we don't employ them.
There are cities in Scandinavia who've set up vending machines where crows can deposit a cigarette butt to get a food pellet. That's a little like giving them a job.
The Maesters of Westeros would disagree.
Yes. Loud, egotistic and obnoxious when in their comfort zone. Disappears in blink of an eye when shit hits the fan. Got several colleagues like that. Wouldn't know the difference.
No, not after we heard what they had to say.
Me "could you please get a job to help pay for catfood?"
Her "nope. I don't feel like it. I'd rather just move into the bushes and live off rare native birds".
Cats would be the ultimate streamers, they get to do nothing but laying on their gaming chair bed and get showered with money.
"Welcome to the ASMR Cat Purring channel, I'm your host, Mr. Mittens"
We are but catsβ rich friends
If cats could talk, they'd say "Shut up and give me my food, or I'll eat you while you sleep."
I think that's an unrealistic expectation. Cats gonna cat. Even talking ones.
I like how you assume they wouldn't be our overlords :D
I think my dogs wouldn't mind jobs at all, but the cats? No, they are not employable.
I've thought about this for dogs. I've never had a cat, but some of this probably applies, with the complication that they have a somewhat sour temperament as well.
It'd be nice on one hand, because I could say "chocolate will kill you, don't eat it", and they would know I'm not just being a chocolate-hoarding bastard. On the other hand, they couldn't get away with pooping in front of everybody. They get leeway on things like that because of what they don't know. It seems like a slippery slope where, yes, they would end up being treated more like older human children or human adults, and maybe that would spoil the cuteness a bit.
It's worth noting, I think, that historically dogs were expected to work for the most part. When food is often scarce having an extra mouth to feed for fun is conspicuous consumption. Often dogs were the food, too - we're the weird ones eating pigs but never contemplating eating dogs.
As far as I understand we only domesticated cats because they took cate of mice and rats, so in a way they were also expected to work.
Yup. They were domesticated around the time we invented agriculture and had large stores of grain that attracted rodents.
Nope, cats are assholes. Can't expect them to do anything.
Some cats do work, catching vermin.
I expect of things from cats right now that they don't do so I can see expecting more if they could talk. We can expect till we are blue in the face.
If cats could talk, they wouldn't be cats. So it's not really possible to answer this question :)