[GZG] A number of scientists respond to Hawking's

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My cat was a stray, but we suspect he was a dropped off house pet. He has the
'grab your foot' or 'grab your laces' instinct of a hunter, and he'll put the
teeth or claws on you, but he doesn't seem to have the 'finishing' instinct.

And his version of hunting is meowing and climbing in your lap until you get
up to open him a can.

I'm not sure he could kill a mouse or would. But I'm not sure he couldn't
either. I am fairly sure he was never taught to by his mother.

I once heard a biologist specializing in cats remark "You don't have to teach
a wild animal to be wild, you just have to facilitate the situation..." She
was talking about recovering wild animals who were in shelter care, but her
point was that even young brought in would revert to
their wired-in genetic disposition and be capable of seeing to
themselves fairly easily without much help other than getting them up to snuff
before turning them out.