Bias, It’s Unavoidable | BilliSpeaks
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 พ.ค. 2023
- Let’s talk about bias! First, a definition:
Bias is a disproportionate weight in favor of or against an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individual, a group, or a belief. In science and engineering, a bias is a systematic error.
Bias is not something that can be negated, but it can be minimized, or at the very least acknowledged. Everyone experiences life through a lens of bias, it shapes every interaction and decision we have. Because my lived experiences are unique to me, so is the bias I project.
So what does that mean for interactions with Billi? So many things, but we’ll focus on two. First, that my relationship with her for the 11 years before we started buttons has shaped how I respond to her while using buttons. Second, and I think the most important point in this video, is that humans have a bias towards verbal over non verbal communication. In the absence of looking at Billi, I revert to reliance on the words (buttons). This is a slippery slope, especially when we’re exploring a new way of evaluating interspecies communication. We have to remember to keep an open mind, but not allow our bias to land us at a conclusion we don’t have all the information to make. Stay curious friends! Always ask yourself “what don’t I know about this situation, and how might I go about obtaining more information while not allowing bias to color my learning process or conclusions?”
For AIC (augmentative interspecies communication), we still have so much to learn. Billi is part of an ongoing research project to help us answer some of these questions (you can read more at the links below), but this takes time, and our bias (whether that bias leans towards believing animals are capable of human-esque communication techniques or the opposite) always needs to be examined and mitigated.
For extra credit you can read about Clever Hans, a great example of how humans are easy to fool.
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Billi is a female domestic shorthair, she's 14 years old, her favorite word is mad.
Inspiration for learning to “speak” with buttons from Hunger4Words (check her out on IG).
Affiliate link for FluentPet buttons: flnt.pt/billispeaks
LinkTree for:
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✨website with FAQs and getting started resources
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Want to learn more about the research study Billi and many other animals are in? Check it out here:
www.theycantalk.org/research
www.billispeaks.com/research
Billi - "Not what I meant, but...um...I'm not really gonna argue here...'
Billi is extraordinary. ❤Her face. Her stare. The way she seeks eye contact for affirmation. The way she keeps flicking her tail; it's not aggressive, it's just another engine part she uses for her thought process. You can literally see her brain working on communicating. I have never seen that face on another cat. I wonder if she is aware of how special she is. Deeply fascinating.
That's certainly the face of a cat whose brain had expanded several sizes
Absolutely 💯
Yes I always see her tail as a part of her thinking really hard too. It goes along with her pacing around the buttons trying to find the correct phrase. Such an intelligent, lovely kitty 😊
I love the way she finds the button, puts her paw on it, looks Kendra straight in the eye, *then* pushes the button. For each button when Kendra is in the room she does that. Her desire to communicate is so clear.
Unrelated… One of my cats has a big crush on her. When he sees Billi-just Billi, no other cats-he jumps up on the table and touches her on the screen. It’s so cute. Warm wishes from Minnesota! ❤❤❤
Oh sweet- the catnip roll! That is is so informative- mine flick also when considering what to do - go outside? Or not? Is the intruder cat in the yard worth dealing with? Etc… Billi has caused me to explain things to my cats in much more detail!😁❤️🐈⬛
The way thumbnail looks, I thought it's gonna be Billy's villain speech "Bias. It's inevitable. Chaos is the ladder. Catnip. But most importantly... My toy smells wierd, can you smell it, mom?"
I thought she was asking for mom to wash watermelon toy.
I planted some watermelon last year and my cat went insane for the leaves. I realized that the oil that came off it smelled a LOT like the catnip plant I bought her around the same time. So that was a fun thing to learn!
Oooh so that's why she said catnip 😆
Also in general it seems like Billi refers to a few smells as "kind of like catnip". Like coffee.
Oooohhhh! Thank you I was wondering when did cats like watermelon? Why my cats don’t like it? So it’s the fresh leaves that they like! ❤
@@naolucillerandom5280 That makes sense, because my cats always want to sniff my coffee.
@@yasisoufi depends. I had a black cat that would go crazy for melon, particularly watermellon and muskmellon. She would eat the fruit.
Our cat Fungus liked cantaloupe and chickpeas. Her hisster Harlequin liked cucumber shavings. Kiwi likes "duck" made from plant protein so much she climbed into my lap pursuing it (and she's not a lap cat!)
Our dog Lady liked coffee with lots of milk.
I teach about bias in the workshops I do about communication between non-autistic and autistic people. There’s a bias that presume any social or communication mismatches are the fault of us autistic people when in actuality it’s just differing neurotypes, neither better or worse.
Such a great point! I bet those are super helpful workshops
I think there are biases in all of our Communications with everyone and to some extent I think these themselves are supposed to be part of all regular communication but the old saying assumption makes an ass out of you and me is unfortunately also part of that.
Right up to the camera - she plays to the audience! 😉😸
Kendra: "oh, now look, youre just covered in catnip!"
Billi: "You say that like its a bad thing.."
😅
Clearly, Billi didn't mind if there was any misunderstanding. I think we have seen that she is more than able to express frustration without any delay.
She did look a bit confused at first, but hey, one doesn't just deny catnip and pets
Yeah, she’s pretty fluent with that mad button 😂
But does she mean what we think she means?
@@a.w.thompson4001not always, I’m sure, but cats are very good at showing when they want something, word-buttons or not
I heard somewhere recently that the key difference in training cats and dogs is that dogs will do anything for a reward, but cats need to genuinely want to do the action in question and that's why a lot of people struggle with it. I've also heard that some cats take to buttons like these better than others. It's interesting to think about how Billi must have recognized the gap in your communication and had the conscious desire to fill it when you gave her buttons. Every time you give her a new word she sees it as another useful tool that she wants to understand. Pretty darn cool :) and that stare always melts my heart. Hope you're both doing well
I am assuming this is a response to that “animal expert” who did a video recently denouncing what you’ve done. That video ended up in my feed yesterday morning, and it made me very angry and I let her know that. Is Billi perfect? No. Is your interpretation perfect? No. But I have you made leaps and bounds in communicating with another species? Absolutely! You have done a phenomenal job that only a few other people ever attempted to do. Keep doing what you’re doing. Keep learning from each other. And by all means, keep posting videos! Don’t listen to the negativity, especially those from “experts” who are completely operating on their own confirmation bias. They don’t want intelligent communication between species to be real and therefore they try every way to announce it. You’re doing great work! Keep on going! 💙💙💙
Aww thanks! Not a response at all. It actually doesn’t anger me if people dismiss Billi and other animals, I’m just going to keep on sharing her. Many of the skeptic’s points are accurate, and good questions to ask. The issue is they aren’t asking questions, just stating their opinions as fact. It’s a waste of my time to engage anyone who doesn’t already want to learn, I have better things to do 😹
@@BilliSpeaks That’s a great attitude to have! Keep on keeping on! I’m so proud of what you two have accomplished! 💙💙💙
@@gippywhitename of the expert's channel?
@@O1OO1O1 I had to go searching for it, because after it came up in my recommendations and I was appalled by her reaction, I had blocked her. Turns out the video was from a year ago, which I didn’t realize when I watched it a few weeks ago. But the channel name is KPassionate, however you can just do a search for “animal expert reacts to talking cat.“ She should be close to the top.
@gippywhite Jackson Galaxy also completely rejected that buttons were valid form of communication. I think half of us told him about this channel and that he shouldn't judge before watching it. The others were like I don't need buttons! I know perfectly well how my cat communicate. It was just frustrating and I didn't bother with engaging with people.
So interesting! It's so tricky to remember we don't have full context for things, but so important to try! (also, I do love it when she rubs the camera)
Yes! Both of those things!
YES! Billi's fans do love that! We got booped! And got to hear Billi purr😻.
Billie was ready for her “close-up!”😂
Love the Billi purrs!😍
I think quite literally in this instance she was telling Mom to look at the video for the missing body language and action communication that Mom didn't see because she was in the other room, just a thought. Body language is so much a part of all of our Communications with everybody throughout the Critter Kingdom between them between us and in between them and us. As I said in another comment our bias I think cats have a bias to that they assume we see their body language communication but Billy is smarter then that often making up for it later and giving a tail flick and then picking a different button.
Yes yes yes ! ❤
She was telling you to check the camera feed. She's so smart!
We do love that... It's true. ❤️ We love a happy rubby Billi!
Billi going to the camera like "Mother, go back and watch the recording!"
I love when she turns over. "Ooo mom don't forget to pet this side."
I constantly have misunderstandings of words and sentences with humans that I talk to, even close ones who know me. You're right, bias is inevitable and so are simple misunderstandings. A sweet interaction nonetheless.
Her face when she looks at Mom is so sweet. You can tell how much love is there and how she loves being able to communicate her needs.
Thanks for talking about the bias. We forget how much it effects human interaction, much less interaction between species. It's really interesting to try to imagine what she's really trying to communicate.
I love how you show the process it as it is. Sometimes we're splitting our attention between two things - and that's okay.
I was just about to say "no no we love it!" Right before you did 😂❤
😹😹😹
Billi is such a happy (x12) and well-loved cat. Videos like this are extremely interesting and I love to see that you're keeping bias in mind, but it's also really clear how much that little girl is actively communicating.
You and Billi are extremely lucky you found each other. You not only put in the hard work to make it so Billi can communicate in a fun and low-stress manner, but you do it in such a loving way. Thanks for being such a sterling example of a pet parent.
X12 😂😂
Lol after reading the screen & knowing what's going on, her reaction at 01:02 when you ask if the catnip smells good is like she's looking at someone like "What the hell is mother talking about? What's wrong with her?" ❤️❤️❤️
When you think about it, some number of misunderstandings, or complete blank incomprehension at times, is absolutely necessary to develop/ refine communication.
Catnip intoxication, it’s unavoidable-Billi, probably
Excellent explanation Kendra! Even in working with humans we are more successful in communicating if we choose to pay more attention to nonverbal language and then sync our verbal skills to it rather than the other way around. We’ve all been the recipient of mismatched verbal and nonverbal signals. The outcome is rarely positive.
So sweet to see Billi loving pets and tummy rubs. 🤗
Yes and Billi expressed this sentiment with that look after she'd been given the catnip. Her expression said: If you'd come when I said Now, we wouldn't be having this misapprehension. This will go in your employee file.
“The outcome is rarely positive” is so true
Humans are pattern seeking machines.
Hello, Julie. This might surprise you to learn about, but with autistic adults the entire problem is reversed 180 degrees. If you place more emphasis on non-verbal communication, you will inevitably get it *wrong*. Our non-verbal communication is totally different from non-autistics, and I am *constantly* *begging* service providers (doctors, etc) to ignore what they *think* my non-verbal communication is saying, and LISTEN TO MY WORDS. It's nearly impossible for most non-autistics to achieve this without practice, so I'm constantly being misdiagnosed, mis-treated, and made sicker by health practitioners. "If you do this, I will have a panic attack." "Don't worry, it'll be okay if *I* do it....Oh, my god, why are you freaking out?"
@@athenawilson4019 Yep, I can confirm this also as an autistic person. I need neurotypical people to listen to my words, and not my body language and facial expression. My physical expressions are 'atypical' for neurotypical humans, but typical for autistic humans.
I think in some ways, my communication more resembles animal communication in that regard. It has been a big positive for me, in training animals, to be configured such that my nonverbal communication is different to most humans. (Animals don't interpret my neutral expression as resting witch face, for example, and are better at picking up my very subtle physical cues - humans seem to be quite bad at reading subtle body language in general, they're good at picking up big body language and facial expression cues, but will miss smaller movements and microexpressions without training to recognize them.)
In this, I think a lot of animal trainers do have something right, the sequence of understanding is animal > human > individual. When I'm approached in this way, people rarely misinterpret me, vs when they approach me as individual > human > animal. Interestingly, vets and animal trainers pick up on my non-verbal communication quicker than doctors do.
Billi is expanding her vocabulary and her use of language again. it's so fun to see her do that. it was a creative sentence.
Billi shows fans some love. Mom shows Billi love. All is good. 💕💕
Bleary-eyed from waking up, I fully thought the title was "BLISS, it's unavoidable" and thought it totally tracked with the catnip situation and getting covered in catnip - didn't realize till I read the description afterwards!
Billi might be rocking that doe eyed look, but in reality everything is going on behind the stare!
Yes, the fans ❤ u Billikins.
Kendra, since you brought up your own bias, do you often find yourself reviewing these "off screen" interactions where you aren't watching Billi and her buttons and then adjusting your own habits to accommodate her nonverbals better?
I certainly try! Life gets in the way too frequently I’m afraid. As much as I’d love to spend 24/7 looking at Billi I have to be doing other things sometimes, and it inevitably leads to me missing something crucial in her non verbal communication.
I'm bias, cats are smarter than dogs! cats more you will ldearn to do as you are told and dogs are more what do you want me to do! 😉 my 18 year old feline has me well trained!
@@sharongagnist6428 yes! I have a 19 year old! 🎉
Did you buy the buttons all at once, or add them a little at a time? How many did you start with?
I love that little face! She’s so stinking cute and so smart and clearly loves her mom!
Perhaps she detected a bit of a mildewy / musty scent coming from her puzzle and she thought "catnip" could be a close comparison? 🤔
Amazing video as per usual, by the way! Love your interactions 💚
I'm glad to see another cat owner who pets their cat through to the end of their cat's tail. I've heard so often that one shouldn't mess with a cat's tail, but honestly, I've rescued most of the cats I've had from feral mommas and raised them from days old so they don't know anything different😂
Hugs to Billi. She is a lot like my "Lo-Lo" (Merlot).
Every cat is an individual! Some like it, some don’t 💜
I've found it to be an individual bases, but I always attempt to the end of the tail at least once.
My son has 3 cats; I had two sets of two when I was a young adult. Only one of my son’s cats (different ages, litters) likes the stroking from head to tip of tail. Another likes head to shoulder, then hip to tail tip. And the third can barely tolerate one cheek stroke. None of them will play with us, but one loves his catnip mice for self-entertainment. Two of my cats (siblings) loved to play fetch (they’d greet me at the door at the end of a work day with a hair roller so that I would play with them). They both loved any kind of petting. And my other cat pair (unrelated to each other but about the same age) each had unique petting patterns, but they both loved to cuddle. I’m guessing cats have unique preferences just as people do.
Thank you for sharing yours and Billie’s experiences with us. I’m amazed how many words Billie puts together now. Such an amazing transformation from the early days. But always a dear.
For some reason, Billi reminded me of when Ferris Buehler would do/say/think something clever and then look into the camera😼😂
Yes, her fans do love a nose bloop too....😺😺😺
She is so adorable, would you have ever thought she would gain so many followers lol It’s the eyes ❤
Never in my wildest dreams 😹
Billi has a huge vocabulary. What she means in her mind by the words is not always clear. But all those words she has learned has meaning to her. Humans it has been proven, have the need for grammar built into their brains. So far it’s not been proven that animals have that same ability. Or if they do, what kind of grammar that is. But her understanding of words and what they mean is incredible. She is a very smart cat and she seems very happy to be able to communicate her wants and needs. She is a delight
You can see she looks at her watermelon toy several times and even walks away from the nip. Something was up with that toy.
Plastic? trapped food ?
I'm thinking maybe Kendra is teaching her to smell the closed puzzle parts to know which have food in them & is modeling smell that way.
I believe she was implying that she wanted to play that smell game with mom. She also probably wanted to do it since Kendra was leaving for work & she wanted to stall her!
Billie comes up to camera: Would one of you please set Mom straight?
It’s gotten so my partner will say to me (the household TH-cam watcher = me) “There’s a new Billi!”
The thumbnail photo is so good 😂
Of course, there’s a bia’s between human to human communication as well and thats why body language is so important 😊. Its always a good thing I think that we all acknowledge that communication often has its limitations as well as advantage’s.
It's also important to not rely solely on body language with humans though, and to be aware of the differences in individuals (humans or other species!). People VERY often misinterpret my body language and it's ridiculously frustrating when they rely on their wrong interpretation of my body language and ignore my words. I know it's not just humans because I've been close to so many cats and the way they communicate isn't always the same either.
Awww love billi giving the camera nose boops and then mom giving billi tummy rubs I love her white tummy so cute and precious and adorable and beautiful 😻🥰😍❣️♥️❤️💜💋 love you billi
Your description ❤❤❤ My little scientist heart appreciated it so much 😊
She is so cute. Can you give her a hug from me please?🤗
Yes! (If she lets me lol)
So, we have to know. Did you notice anything different about the toy when you looked?
1:54 Billi says hi to her fans! I agree about her knocking the camera iver but it is so cute! 😻
I've often wondered if cat nip acts as a digestive aid. it's part of the mint family and pepermint is supposed to help with an upset stomach in humans.
She really enjoyed that pets session.
I can see Billie “buffering” about mom abruptly changing the smellovision. Heyyy I was smelling’ that! Well now wait hold on now this channel looks interesting …
This is food for thought for Bili too, though. A reminder that you need a noun, a referent, or some kind of topic indicator if your conversation partner can’t see through solid objects.
I know some humans who forget this!
@@mrychards6682 Someone commenting on Bili a little while ago mentioned an affinity or likeness between cats and being autistic. Maybe it’s because house-cats descend from a type of cat that has more a solitary than a “pride” structure, their perception of others thought processes isn’t always as intuitive as with lions, dogs or most humans. They certainly can catch people’s moods, but I often get the sense that we are as enigmatic to cats as they are to us. You accidentally stand on a dog’s tail, they immediately seem to understand, and are easily reassured and soon calm down: but cats often seem to think an accident really was an ambush, and stay wary for much longer. Or they misinterpret even another cat just coming for a snuggle or whatever, and give it a bat. Kendra’s “oops!” button is genius!
Billi has such an inquisitive face. What a sweetheart! My cat loves watching Billi on the big screen TV, too. Such a special channel.
I have two cats, but I also love Billy.
Same! Haha my youngest cat loves to play with the Billi plush cat
Good to see that you still initiate petting, so she doesn’t have to ask for love.
Not at all! That’s a common misconception with the buttons, but it’s not the way it works. If anything, they increase the amount of loving she gets
Great info in the description box, always keeping it real! Another excellent video 😺
The thumbnail shows Billi's side that is not often captured on video ❤
I may be Biased, myself; but I think Billi is very understanding about your 'slip-ups and mispronunciations' with/about those "non-verbal bits." (She Knows you are trying. {Sometimes VERY "Trying,"
and she has no Choice Left except to remind you that she is Nick-named "Your Mad-Jesty."})
Most of the time VERY “trying” 😹
Thank you for the up close Billi ❤🥺
I love Billi's beautiful face. She's so adorable.
She has the cutest face! You can just see how intelligent she is!
She gave her followers a snuggle (albeit a closeup camera one). I felt the 💘
hey eyes 1:05 dont really look satisfied. as if she noticed you didn't understand her or she is confused
I agree. She's looking around, then back at the watermelon a few times, like she's trying to figure out his to say something. And she doesn't seem very interested in the catnip. Did the toy smell strange? Have food caught in it?
I thought so too. She had that look like "what the hell is she talking about? Is she crazy?"
Also, I think maybe Kendra is using that puzzle to teach Billi she can smell which closed doors have food behind them. So she associates that puzzle with her mom modeling smell. Just a guess tho
I swear, you recorded every button with an angry flat voice. It gives Billi a personality!
3:20
Mom bye work?🥺
But the catnip party was just getting started! 🥳Mommmmm!
What’s interesting is that our bias leads us to believe that Billi is communicating with the buttons, regardless of what we take from what she’s actually “saying,” because we can form linguistic groupings from the collection of buttons pressed as a whole “thought.”
And yes, a person’s thinking can be influenced by external factors (such as a question from another person), and that might alter what (or even how) we attempt to communicate as we do so.
Verbal (and written) communication relies so much on the connections between the words (such as punctuation) that we lack in relying on communication by buttons.
I think even we can see from the videos that different amounts of time May elapse between buttons even within a single expressed “thought.” That too makes it difficult to attempt to correlate button presses with communication. And then the question of whether the appropriate button even exists to say what Billi seems to want to say. Does she have a button for “watermelon,” or is “catnip” the closest she has. Is she thinking in terms of “what” she “smells now” or something else?
Assuming she is attempting to communicate what you think she’s attempting to communicate, can she recall a scent that isn’t present? Is there a duration for how long the memory is available? (Which would come with a slew of other questions, considering how important scent is supposed to be for cats otherwise.)
Could I make a request please? Could you send Billy over here to the UK, with Larry the Downing St Cat and Billy in charge of the country, the UK will be great again. 😂😂😂 Thanks for the head butts and purrs Billy, your mom is right, your fans love them.😊
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Furreal though, I endorse these candidates!
Billi: *well, this camera is certainly mine!*
Her fans do in fact love the camera nuzzles! I'm curious if you've ever had to deal with petting aggression with Billi, this occurred to me as I watched the furious face nuzzling following the catnip. I have to be careful with my tabby as he gets overstimulated.
This reminds me of training we do with children with Autism! It’s great! It’s a lot of work but worth it! You are amazing!
Oh, she wanted it in the puzzle? 🥺She kept looking at it, mom, and pointing with her nose! She's so cute and intelligent! 🥰 Unless she meant she smelled something odd in the puzzle, (I do not know if you would put catnip in that)? 🤔
Yeah we got some Billi love today
There was so much to unpack there. After you had her attention visually and we're standing there she tried to draw your attention to the watermelon thing again she was using her own body language to show a slight amount of annoyance and thought process but then she also notched up on the camera I firmly believe to tell you that go look on the camera what I was trying to show you that you weren't paying attention to. It's one thing about cats that I've never quite understood and I realize that it's my own ignorance. But they will stand in the other room completely out of sight and meow to get your attention or to get you to come look, but when you do something gets missed in the translation when you go to look fairly often. It's those moments that I wish I had buttons but I also realize that they're using their body language when they're meowing and you can't see them so you missed out on that part of it as well. The longer I watch any of these experiments in facilitated communication it continuously blows my mind. Humans have a lot to learn don't we?
These vids make me super happy. I love seeing her talk. It's so neat.
I love this cat. I’ll never get to meet her, but I love her all the same. She is so special. Thank you for sharing her with us. ❤
Billi nearly nocking the camera over is just her giving the Internets cuddles.❤
Such a sweet girl. So smart. She wanted to smell catnip.
I am a proud Billi fan! You and her changed the way I think and interact with cats, Kendra. I'm teaching my own cat buttons now (slowly)
Yes, we love when she smooches us!
Billi was in a realy loveing mood today let me gess no Guppy🤣
Spot on 😹
I love how she made sure she got pets on all sides by rolling over
I love your videos and adore than you publish them knowing the tricky perspective of science of communication. I hate how content creators keep ignoring your most important nelf critique, partly because they are occupied with their own content, and also because it's easier to create content dismissing things than reassuring things.
Billi gets high high spirits. Good thing catnip is healthy for them cats 😹🌿
Such a smart kitty❤❤❤
Beautiful Billie! ❤
BILLI. DON'T EAT THE CAMERA. BILLI.
She should meet Zahra the Destroyer.
Awe she is so sweet ❤
You can't change my mind that Billi said "yeah" at 1:09 😂
She didn’t ask for pets, but she didn’t complain.
What a happy Billi!!! ❤❤❤❤❤
Your relationship with Billi is one in a trillon. I could only wish to have a sliver of that with my fur baby.
I'm glad to see her happy these last couple of days. She must not have felt good the days before. She looked miserable. Glad she's better. 😊
🙄🙄🙄
I wouldn't even call that bias, I'd call it miscommunication. Like if I'm talking to a human from the other room I'm also more than likely to misunderstand what they're saying or miss non-verbal cues....
Billi is such a cutie pie!!!♥️♥️♥️
BILLI IS AWESOME.
I love her! ❤️BILLI❤️
The purring ❤❤❤
We don't care if she knocks the camera over... ;-)
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Why is she so perfect
I ask her this daily.
No mom - once again, you totally misunderstand what I am talking about - but you treat me nice and give me catnip so I am willing to put up with you when you are confused and don't understand - ❤