This week in Curriodeasy I was in the camp Ocean Adventure and the exsperince was very different to Junior Keepers. It felt like we were going more into the nature and less into the museum, which I was all for. As we studied the marine life more and more I realised that the campers were very much personifing the animals. This was less like in my first week when I noticed that they were favoring certain animals. Here they were giving these animal human traits. I thought about it and realised that I actually do that as well. I think how otters are so “good” for eating the urchins and in turn keeping the seaweed forests health. And the sea urchins had to be “bad” because they were destroying the seaweed. Now I understand that good and bad are very human, other animals don’t have such social constructs. Even with me understanding this I still subconciously thought like this. the answer wasn’t anything earth shattering but It was informative. Humans tend to force these norms onto other animals because we want to see the world in the ways that we see ourselves. We want our social laws to apply to the whole world when in reality they don’t. This can be both good and bad because while it does strengthen our connection with other animals it can also leave us with cognitive biases towards these “bad” animals.This week at CuriOdyssey, I was in the Ocean Adventure camp, and the experience felt very different from Junior Keepers. It seemed like we were more immersed in nature and less focused on the museum side of things—which I really enjoyed. As we spent more time studying marine life, I noticed something interesting: the campers were constantly personifying the animals. Unlike my first week, where they tended to favor certain animals over others, this time they were giving sea creatures actual human traits.
I started thinking about this and realized—I do it too. For example, I think of otters as “good” because they eat sea urchins and help keep the kelp forests healthy. And I see sea urchins as “bad” because they destroy the kelp. But in reality, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are human ideas. Other animals don’t operate under those kinds of social rules. Even though I know this, I still found myself thinking that way without realizing it.
This realization wasn’t anything earth-shattering, but it was informative. Humans often project our own values and norms onto animals because it helps us make sense of the world in familiar ways. We want our rules—our moral codes—to apply universally, even when they don’t. This can be both helpful and harmful. On one hand, it strengthens our emotional connection to animals. On the other, it can lead to cognitive biases, where we unfairly label certain species as “bad” just because they don’t fit into our human worldview.
Kyra's Bioverse 