ID commentary on animal minds (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, January 10, 2016, 09:30 (3241 days ago) @ David Turell

QUOTE: If the current description proves accurate, the ant may show considerable intelligence, but not have a unified sense of self, in the same way that a dog or raven probably does (all these sensations are happening to me). Other researchers are less cautious, claiming that insects may have consciousness and "could even be able to count."-dhw: I don't think it is possible to have intelligence without consciousness (e.g. awareness of one's surroundings), but that is some degrees below self-awareness. As everyone on this website knows, some researchers also claim that bacteria are sentient, cognitive beings. And they may well be right!-DAVID: It is reasonable to consider a hierarchy of consciousness as this article appears to suggest. Very simple consciousness in ants for example. Human consciousness vastly different and really of a different kind. I think we both agree consciousness seems to pervade the universe, and certainly is a part of quantum mechanics.-I'm not sure about the universe, though that is part of panpsychist thinking and may offer an alternative to the hypothesis that the universe was created by a single sourceless mind. I feel more confident about the consciousness of living organisms. I agree that there are different degrees, and that human levels of consciousness are almost certainly unique, but I don't see any point in using consciousness to distinguish between degree and kind (see my post on that thread). I would not expect a sparrow to think in the same way as an elephant, a gudgeon or, for that matter, a bacterium, all of which in my view are “different in kind”.