Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
I'm conscious; I'm certain of that, by direct experience.
You are also self-aware. That is a separate phenomenon. A self-aware
creature is one that realizes that it exists as an object separate
and distinct from others creatures and objects. Dolphins, dogs and
chimpanzees are quite capable of doing this. For example, they
recognize their own image in a mirror or photo. When you take a photo
of a chimp at the zoo with a modern camera, some chimps will strike a
pose and then want to have a look at your photo on the back of the
camera, to critique your shot, while others dislike being
photographed as much as I do, and they get upset when you point a
camera at them.
A male Cicada can tell that there are other male and female cicadas,
but he cannot tell them apart. So his self-awareness is considerably
reduced, although of course he is completely conscious. If you have
any doubt about that try catching one. The cicada also cannot
distinguish a living cicada from a plastic model manipulated by a
biologist. This allows a biologist to destroy the cicada's
self-confidence by using a plastic dummy to engage in combat over
females repeatedly, using the same plastic dummy every time. The poor
thing imagines that has been defeated several times by many different
rivals, and its hormone balance will change. (Which you can verify by
pureeing and assaying the cicada, I believe).
Are you, Horace? I would assume so, but I can't prove it, because I
have no test for consciousness, nor even a particularly good definition.
Actually, a good deal of progress has been made in this subject in
recent decades.
How about a chimpanzee? Is it conscious? Presumably so!
Definitely. Demonstrably. Their consciousness, intelligence and
self-awareness is roughly on the level of a three-year-old human. Of
course when it comes to doing things that chimpanzees do well, such
as swinging through trees or courting female chimps, they are miles
ahead of us!
How about a gorilla? Lots like a chimp, but not quite, eh?
How about a dolphin?
How about a sea otter?
How about a dog?
No doubt about it. I do not think any modern biologist would dispute this.
Also, do not get any funny ideas about people being more intelligent
than other animals. Gram for gram all brains are equally intelligent,
and some brains are far superior to ours for specific purposes. I
mentioned that any chimp could beat the world's finest Olympic
gymnasts. Dogs know WAY more than us about how to herd sheep, and
what a scent wafting from trail in the woods means. They really do
know these things, just as sure as I know how to how to ride a
bicycle, or why a program is probably stuck in a loop.
How about an octopus (they're highly intelligent, even if highly alien)?
Yup. Recent research in octopus eye movements (oddly enough) confirms
this, but it is pretty obvious to anyone who has kept octopuses as
pets. They are very playful and they instantly recognize different
people. For that matter, when you show them a bottle with a screw on
top for the first time, you insert their favorite food and through
the top shut, the octopus will instantly unscrew it, reach in, and
take the food, so they are pretty good at manipulating tools.
How about a giant squid?
Probably.
How about a mouse?
Conscious and probably self-aware.
How about a turtle?
How about a snake?
Yup, yup.
How about a worm?
Probably not.
How about a cockroach?
How about an apid?
Conscious of course. You can render them unconscious with an
anesthetic. But it is unlikely they have any self-awareness.
How about a corn plant?
Definitely not. No brain cells or nerves.
How about an amoeba?
Nope.
How about a rock?
Nope.
There's a line there somewhere between things that are conscious and
things that are not, but there's no way to determine with any
certainty *where* to draw it . . .
There are ways to determine it with increasing certainty.
Discussions like this used to be mainly metaphysical but nowadays
biology is catching up, and they are now becoming well defined
working concepts. Many concepts in physics such as heat were once
somewhat metaphysical and vague (or flat-out wrong) but later were
defined with mathematical precision. The same is happening with consciousness.
. . . because the concept of "consciousness" is entirely outside the
ken of modern science.
Not at all! It is in the forefront of biology. It was even 30 years
ago, when I did biology at Okayama U., pureeing various creatures.
- Jed
