“The Mirror Test Is Complicated” by J Bostock

The Mirror Test is kind of like Hitler. In any discussion of animal cognition, somebody is going to bring it up. The conversation usually goes like this: A: So, most animals can’t recognize themselves in the mirror B: Which animals specifically? A: Oh, dogs, cats, betta fish, monkeys, that sort of thing. Anyway as I was saying, those animals can’t. But some smart animals can recognize themselves in the mirror. B: Such as? A: Well, chimpanzees and orangutans for a start. B: Makes sense A: Not gorillas though, at least not always. But dolphins and elephants can! B: Yeah, those animals are smart as well A: Magpies can, though crows cant. B: Sure, ok A: And cleaner wrasse can as well. B: The uhh, finger-sized fish? You sure? A: Yeah. And also ants. B: What. What? Frans de Waal drew this picture of an orangutan putting lettuce on her head and then actually got it published in a real journal. Based. What do we actually mean by the “Mirror Test” “The mirror test” elides a bit of a distinction between different kinds of test. There's lots of things you can do which look like “put an animal in front [...] ---Outline:(01:48) What do we actually mean by the Mirror Test(03:07) The Complicated Ones(03:54) The Unbelievable Ones(05:17) Making Sense Of It All --- First published: April 15th, 2026 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/5eLoZQshfre8DGaxd/the-mirror-test-is-complicated --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.