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And human don't know they see the fish upside down. To a fish, the ground is the water level. The fish belly is actually their back.
by est 15y ago
And human don't know they see the fish upside down. To a fish, the ground is the water level. The fish belly is actually their back.
- corin_ 15y agoWell that just plain isn't the case. Up and down are relative directions, not absolutes, and as fish are unable to think like this, we (humans) are the only ones able to define "up" or "down". Even for us they are relative, but generally speaking on earth they are defined either by gravity or by feet and head on a human body standing up. Either way, whatever way a fish swims, it's not upside down by our definitions. And however you chose to define it, we still class it by our definition, not by "what might we think if we were a fish capable of human levels of thought?". And as to front/back... well that's theoretially described by the direction of the animal's normal movement. But regardless of that, again if you are defining a fish, it can only be defined by our grammar, not by their world.
- est 15y ago> we (humans) are the only ones able to define "up" or "down". No, you english speaking guys are the only ones able to define "up" or "down".
- minikomi 15y agoIs not "Down" with gravity, and "Up" against?
- cperciva 15y agoIf you're neutrally buoyant, there is not gravity.
- corin_ 15y agoYes there is... Gravity is gravity is gravity. If I jump in the air does that mean there's no gravity while I'm going up?
- radq 15y agoThis is the fundamental difference between a fish floating in water and a person jumping up. http://i.imgur.com/nkwVc.png http://i.imgur.com/nkwVc.png In the second case, gravity acts on you even when you are going up, in fact it is what slows you down and then makes you start to fall.
- corin_ 15y agoYes they aren't identical situations, but you'll notice in your diagram that there is a downward force acting on the fish called "gravity", which is the point I was making - that gravity is acting on fish and humans regardless of what upward forces are also present.
- jongraehl 15y agoTry to appreciate the sense in which his statement might be true before nitpicking. It's true that free-fall feels substantially different from floating underwater, or even lying on a soft surface (the last two are more similar subjectively than free fall - the force resisting gravity is spread over your body).
- 5l 15y agoBut the swim bladder which makes them neutrally buoyant will give them an "up" and "down" sensation.
- crc32 15y agothe morphology of the fish as it is understood by the human is not dependent on the orientation of the fish to its external environment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterior_%28anatomy%29#Anterior_and_posterior http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterior_%28anatomy%29#Anterio... that is, "back" would usually mean the location of the spine. Regarding how the fish perceives or thinks about its orientation I think this is impossible to say!