Great article, other comments have already covered my main thoughts But those sound boards that let pets communicate with words and concatenate have been okay

Great article, other comments have already covered my main thoughts But those sound boards that let pets communicate with words and concatenate have been okay at helping me move past our tests of intelligence. We cant even communicate with other humans that cant dont talk back or use fingers. I’m also less convinced that human behaviors are not just reward seeking patterns chained together, so I cant dismiss a pet’s use of a sound board as just trained behavior for a treat - at least as a reason to dismiss their intelligence or weigh that action any way at all I would say its evidence of understanding and that the animal is aware that they cannot use their vocal cords to respond to us and just give up trying that