I argued that if animals conversed, why shouldn't inanimate things communicate with each other?
You cannot prove that animals don't converse--neither can you prove that inanimate objects DO NOT.

See ?" I was thunderstruck with the force of his logic.
"Of course," he continued, "there are degrees of intelligence, and that makes it difficult.

For instance, a mahogany table would not talk like a rush-bottomed kitchen chair." He stopped suddenly, listened, and replied, "I really couldn't say." "I didn't speak," I said.
"I know YOU didn't.

But your chair asked me 'how long that fool was going to stay.' I replied as you heard.

Pray don't move--I intend to change that chair for one more accustomed to polite society.