Don't Count On It!

News that Channel 5 is to carry a story of a 'Mathematical Dog' (Maggie) claimed to be able to do additions and subtractions by pressing a buzzer is further indication that anything that has been invented will be re-invented. The whole concept appears taken from the early 1900's when Kluger Hans (Clever Hans) the famous calculating horse (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&u=http://www.bokt.nl/wiki/Kluger_Hans&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=7&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DKluger%2BHans%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGGLR,GGLR:2006-25,GGLR:en) was trained by maths teacher Wilhelm von Osten. This animal was thought (by moving its leg repeatedly) to be able to do maths problems (including square roots) and to answer questions (by moving its head) posed in a variety of languages. Von Osten appeared convinced that the horse was demonstrating its intelligence as being about the same level as a reasonably educated person but it seems that the animal was actually responding to subtle cues from its trainer (slight, inadvertent movements or a slight intake of breath) by ceasing moving its leg when it reached the right answer. It couldn't answer any question when its trainer (who was probably not aware of what he was doing) couldn't see it on a blackboard that was in the horse's view! I suspect that the dog 'genius' trainers are only too aware of what they are doing, so this is really a party trick involving clever training. Don't expect your dog to start doing your accounts any time soon!