If that’s the case, then isn’t it an astonishing coincidence that the negotiated boundary just so happens to coincide with the fence?
Some experiments that would more clearly test the use of Schelling points:
If instead of a fence we have an even more trivial boundary marker, like a line of 4-inch-wide curb stones, do the animals still use that as their boundary? (Prediction: Yes)
If the boundary marker is surreptitiously moved slightly to one side, do the animals respect the new location, or do they continue using the old location? (Prediction: New location, until the deviation from the original line becomes significant, at which point the disfavored party will breach it.)
If the boundary marker is removed entirely, do the animals start fighting again? (Prediction: Yes)
Not a coincidence, there are practical reasons borders end up on thresholds. A sort of quantization that happens in the relative strength calculation. Two models:
Simple model: You could say the true border can be defined in terms of the amount of time or effort it takes to get there from the cat’s houses. It takes a certain amount of time and effort to get over a fence, so if the true border is (from tuxedo’s house) between distance tud + yd and tud + yd + fd, then the border in practice will end up being exactly on the fence, because you can’t put a border halfway up the fence, or the situation would look the same if you did.
A more accurate model: The border is measured in terms of how hard it is to defend a space from being used by the other side. I’d guess that cats become vulnerable to attack when they mount a fence (same as humans crossing a river), either coming or going, so extending your territory beyond the fence is difficult. If your strength is higher than the amount of strength it takes to defend everything before the threshold, but lower than the amount it takes to cross the threshold and then defend some on the other side, then the border will be exactly on the threshold.
I’m pretty sure I’d predict no for 1. Cats don’t seem to care about that stuff.
For 2, I’m not sure, if there were a hole in the fence, I’d expect confrontations to happen there because that’s a chokepoint where a cat could get through safely if the other one wasn’t standing on the other side, and maybe the chokepoint is a vulnerability threshold, too. Chokepoints are thresholds for projectile combat (because when you come through the defender sees you immediately but you don’t spot them until they start shooting), cats may be partly characterizable as stealth projectiles.
Also worth noting is that, eg, dogs, they engage in “boundary aggression” at things like fences, but experiments show that they’re doing it for the love of the game. If you remove the fence, hostilities cease. Cats may have some of this going on as well. They may on some level enjoy yelling and acting tough while being in no risk of having to actually fight.
3: Yeah, but because it makes the relative strength calculation harder. A fence is a blessed device that allows cats to get a good look at each other without engaging. I wish humans had something like that. (A hole in a fence may also be a good device for this)
If that’s the case, then isn’t it an astonishing coincidence that the negotiated boundary just so happens to coincide with the fence?
Some experiments that would more clearly test the use of Schelling points:
If instead of a fence we have an even more trivial boundary marker, like a line of 4-inch-wide curb stones, do the animals still use that as their boundary? (Prediction: Yes)
If the boundary marker is surreptitiously moved slightly to one side, do the animals respect the new location, or do they continue using the old location? (Prediction: New location, until the deviation from the original line becomes significant, at which point the disfavored party will breach it.)
If the boundary marker is removed entirely, do the animals start fighting again? (Prediction: Yes)
Not a coincidence, there are practical reasons borders end up on thresholds. A sort of quantization that happens in the relative strength calculation. Two models:
Simple model: You could say the true border can be defined in terms of the amount of time or effort it takes to get there from the cat’s houses. It takes a certain amount of time and effort to get over a fence, so if the true border is (from tuxedo’s house) between distance tud + yd and tud + yd + fd, then the border in practice will end up being exactly on the fence, because you can’t put a border halfway up the fence, or the situation would look the same if you did.
A more accurate model: The border is measured in terms of how hard it is to defend a space from being used by the other side. I’d guess that cats become vulnerable to attack when they mount a fence (same as humans crossing a river), either coming or going, so extending your territory beyond the fence is difficult. If your strength is higher than the amount of strength it takes to defend everything before the threshold, but lower than the amount it takes to cross the threshold and then defend some on the other side, then the border will be exactly on the threshold.
I’m pretty sure I’d predict no for 1. Cats don’t seem to care about that stuff.
For 2, I’m not sure, if there were a hole in the fence, I’d expect confrontations to happen there because that’s a chokepoint where a cat could get through safely if the other one wasn’t standing on the other side, and maybe the chokepoint is a vulnerability threshold, too. Chokepoints are thresholds for projectile combat (because when you come through the defender sees you immediately but you don’t spot them until they start shooting), cats may be partly characterizable as stealth projectiles.
Also worth noting is that, eg, dogs, they engage in “boundary aggression” at things like fences, but experiments show that they’re doing it for the love of the game. If you remove the fence, hostilities cease. Cats may have some of this going on as well. They may on some level enjoy yelling and acting tough while being in no risk of having to actually fight.
3: Yeah, but because it makes the relative strength calculation harder. A fence is a blessed device that allows cats to get a good look at each other without engaging. I wish humans had something like that. (A hole in a fence may also be a good device for this)