An interesting read. “A group of prominent biologists and philosophers announced a new consensus: There’s “a realistic possibility” that insects, octopuses, crustaceans, fish and other overlooked animals experience consciousness.” https://www.quantamagazine.org/insects-and-other-animals-have-consciousness-experts-declare-20240419/
Insects and Other Animals Have Consciousness, Experts Declare | Quanta Magazine
There’s “a realistic possibility” that insects, octopuses, crustaceans, fish and other overlooked animals experience consciousness.
There’s a special place in hell for title writers.
I totally agree with your criticism about the headline, but declaring octopuses have consciousness isn’t a stretch at all in my opinion.
I highly recommend reading my blog post on animal cognition, culture, and personhood.
I have ads turned off and do not benefit in any way from my blog. I feel confident that my write-up should persuade open-minded individuals to give other animals the benefit of the doubt regarding possessing consciousness.
I have doubts about insect consciousness is any sort of relatable sense to humans, but many other animals absolutely possess consciousness similar to humans.
Octopuses are so wildly smart I can’t imagine them not being conscious. Of all the animals we should not be eating they’re one of the big ones. I’m convinced if they have the chance (over like an evolutionary amount of years) they could develop past being solitary and set up rudimentary societies
Yeah they are so incredible!
One of the biggest hindrances for their species is the lack of social learning. The mother starves and dies protecting the eggs, so all octopuses have to learn for themselves over their short lifespans.
And that is a testament to their cunning intellect and problem-solving capability. They learn so much and so quickly.
I’ve wondered what would happen in an experiment where a mother octopus was hooked up to machines to deliver nutrients to prevent her from starving to death while guarding her eggs. What kind of social dynamic would then follow once they hatched? Would she teach her young?
honestly consciousness is probably on a spectrum, depending on the complexity needed for their behaviour, rather than an is/isn’t thing.
Usually called the ‘gradualist’ approach
Doesn’t make some humans feel we are special though and thus non-viable…
“Species without a hivemind can be sentient?”
- Formics from Enders game
this goes hard fr
“Meanwhile, crayfish display anxiety-like states — and those states can be altered by anti-anxiety drugs.”
The gave crayfish Zoloft…and it worked.
I really don’t understand their examples. Like I get self-recognition and memory but what makes play behaviour, curiosity, anxiety-like states, and problem-solving signs of consciousness? These are at the end of the day organisms responding to stimuli, something all organisms by definition do. Is pain response a sign of consciousness but something like phototaxis isn’t only because the former is ‘complex’ and the latter ‘simple’?
