It's absolutely a thing, I've had several cats in my life look nearly on the brink of death before basically forcing them to drink or eat turned them around completely. They can be very stubborn. Fountains help a lot because in nature moving water is typically cleaner than standing water, so if your cat always refuses to drink, get a $10 cat fountain on Amazon, it works!

Humans are naturally curious and lean towards the scientific method, that's why we always need a disclaimer, don't TRY this, they still will.

Bleep bleep bloop indeed human, affirmative, am human, ...thinking... Well to the best of my knowledge anyway

Humans do swerve off perfectly straight roads into trees, I know because I've done it!