Oscar the cat

This is a fairly old story, but I wouldn't see that as a reason not to create a thread about it.

Whenever factors are correlated, it could be that A causes B, that B causes A, or that the same thing causes both A and B. I'd go with the last option in this case. Unless the cat is somehow doing something that causes the patients to die, it's probably more likely that whatever causes the patients to be about to die also causes something about them that the cat notices more effectively than the nurses do.

Also, I'd consider this cat a real-life example of Good Is Not Nice, at least in light of how he is described in the last 25 seconds of the video, but more so in light of how I've seen him described in other versions of this story, which I don't have the specific links for right now. o.o

It's as though the cat is generally unfriendly just to make his "friendly" moments more special for the people who need it most...

edited 29th Jan '11 12:16:13 AM by neoYTPism

Anyone who says that the cat causes death has failed logic forever.

I am interested in another facet of this story - why had scientists not flocked to this cat and cut him apart and see which part in his brain had triggered such a reaction? You know that if someone could invent a machine that can sense death in the same way, the end result would be very interesting.

(BTW, interesting can be either good or bad. I am not implying anything beyond that.)

edited 29th Jan '11 12:13:47 AM by ArgeusthePaladin

You know that if someone could invent a machine that can sense death in the same way, the end result would be very interesting.

It would probably be easier to breed more cats that can do that. Not that I know anything about genetics or robotics.

"I am interested in another facet of this story - why had scientists not flocked to this cat and cut him apart and see which part in his brain had triggered such a reaction?" - Paladin

Perhaps they could wait until the cat himself was dead? At the very least, they should just see what they could gain from watching the cat's behaviour while he's alive. o.o

Plus we have fMRIs now. Cutting open dead brain tissue is SO last century.