Sure. I wouldn't argue that people don't make silly claims about their pets. At the same time, historically scientists have made what now seem to be silly claim

Sure. I wouldn't argue that people don't make silly claims about their pets. At the same time, historically scientists have made what now seem to be silly claims about pets in the other direction. Regarding anthropomorphization, what are "human characteristics"? Are those characteristics that can only be found in humans? Or is it just characteristics that we commonly see in humans, but which may be present in other animals as well? Because that list of characteristics was much larger even 20 years ago than it is today.