Hiiiiiii!

So basically a TCP handshake

~~SYN/ACK~~ ME/OW
- SN/ACK
- I demand an RFC making this official.
Yes but also it’s encrypted!
More like ICMP echo request and reply (ping).
- With the occasional lost packet because cat
So basically a TCP handshake

I've noticed that sometimes my cat will meow from the other room so I'll answer asking what's up, making sure to say his name, and he's usually content with that unless he approaches me. 🤷‍♂️

Cat just checking in if you're still alive
- human responds "darn, can't eat him yet"
- And if not, they will eat your face
Yeah object permanence is not strong with mine either. She'll go into another room, forget I exist, scream, I respond, she's like, "Oh hey, you're right where I left you!"

Tiny fuzzy airhead.
- my cat loses it if she wakes up and can't see me. I live in a studio. there aren't a lot of "out of sight" options. at one point, there was just a screen between me, in my computer chair, and her, on the bed. we still did the whole call and response.
  
  she doesn't look for me, she just starts yelling until I respond.
"I'm alive, are you?"

"Yes."
Then you're all like:

"You are approaching meee?"

Cue to the Stands appearing behind you two.
That cat is actually an assassin, when he lays out his plan, he has to check if it worked or not. Beware!

I have conversations with my cats, they have really impressive inflection/tone

I had to explain to my boyfriend that my cat absolutely has a "name" for him. My cat has specific meows for all his favorite humans.
- aww. ya I have complete conversations with my ragdoll, I'll say you have a nice nap?! and he'll go YA!!! and he'll sit by his treat box and do a really hi pitched beg like PLEASE!!! they're really entertaining animals

Every night, one of my cats yells at me, until I give her brushes and attention

That's one fuckin nice kitty right there.
- Just shot this pic
- Prime pussy, if you will

Why does this keep appearing? Cats most definitely do communicate by meowing too. I'd really love it if our village cats didn't chose the street out my widow a midnight as their debate grounds, shit's loud af and I always have to climb out the window to break up the fight.

and sometimes this sounds like a crying baby.
- We always joke, wondering, "Is it cats or kids" when hearing screaming (like kids playing, or cats fighting). Sometimes, it really is hard to discern
- cats meows mimics crying baby to get our attention faster
Yeah, you're gonna wanna eat some catfood, chug a beer and huff some glue. It'll make you feel really sick and then put you right out.
- I have my doubts about that killing me. I'll need something stronger.

I love it. My cat routinely walks through the room I'm in every 20-30mins giving me little chips along the way.

Don't think so. When my cat says meow she means "bring on the food pronto"

Yeah... My oldest cat makes different noises for different requests. Yowling near door to go outside, chirping near bowls for dinner, and little mews while following you around to be picked up. And I'm not really sure it's an outlier case as the other two younger cats are starting to learn to do the same.
- "hey guys look what I taught this idiot to do"
- Older cats absolutely teach younger ones their behaviors. It's no coincidence!

Yeah, I'd like to see a source for this. There have been many proposed theories for why cats vocalize to humans, especially because "meowing" is not common between cats except for kittens. How do we know that it isn't a request for food or attention?

As a cat person, I find most explanations of cat behaviour generalised and ingomplete; scientific or not. My Siamese cat yells at me when I have not met my side of our obligations.

Consistency is important for children and animals.

We get up at sunrise, so he will nuzzle or meow to be let in if he's locked out of my room.

We get wet food at 7am, and if I'm late he will not be impressed and yell until we are in the kitchen. However, if I'm on time, he will sit on the counter and say a quick meow to let me know he's ready and a good boy.

He will bring his toys to me when it's time to play, if I don't notice he'll let me know.

When there's something outside and I come watch he'll look at me and do a little chirp, approving my presence and proud of what he's found

And when we get home he greets us with the back and forward calling and a nuzzle.

There's much more nonverbal communication than verbal. Everyone knows when their cat is scared or excited, but with a good relationship you can tell when they're anxious or in pain. Cat's know human non-verbal communicotion; they know when you're sad, it just depends on the cat if they'll cuddle or knock you're nick-nacks off a shelf.
"demand" isn't spelled as r-e-q-u-e-s-t.
Meowing is very common among cats. Go look up videos on YouTube where people attach GoPros to their outdoor cats and see them interact with other cats in the neighborhood.
It can be both. I think it really depends on the specific cat and person. My cat "barks" for needs, "whines" when he loses us, and meows for attention or to get vocalization back. I think attentive cat owners probably know their cat and because it's adaptive behavior it's not the same across the board.
I always interpret it as "I NEED"
- Feed me or you go on the menu

It goes both ways. I just leaned over and said "mrrow" to my cat, which she immediately responded to with her own "mrrrrow".

Iirc, interpersonal communication between cats is done at a frequency that humans can't hear, which is part of why they yell at us.

We have one cat with likely brain damage (he got super sick as a kitten) who tries to communicate with us on that frequency, so it looks like he's silently meowing.

There's the little meows...but then there's an entirely different "I'm hungry" meow.

And the "i need pets so bad out of nowhere that I'm in a crisis" meow.
- Mine does a "Look at the huge turd I just dumped in the litterbox!" meow
yeah that's because the little ones mean "hii" and the big ones mean "HELLO???!!"
- "HEY! HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY!! I CAN SEE THE BOTTOM OF MY FOOD BOWL! HEY!! YOU HEARING THIS?? THE BOTTOM OF MY BOWL!! I CAN SEE IT!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT THIS???"
I used to have a semi-outdoor cat. She could come and go from the basement through a cat door. That little shit knew where my bedroom was and every morning she would climb up on the shelf as high as possible and meow loudly as if to say, "Hey! Hey Dumbass! Are you gonna feed me or what!? Heeeeyyyy!"
And the "I don't like being in a car and I don't want to be put in the MRI machine" meow.

Heard a lot of those yesterday =/

Whenever my cats meow at me it usually means "I love you I love you!! (Please give tummy rubs (but not too many tummy rubs because then I will kill you))"