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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. 09:49 - Jun 16 with 4037 viewsNthQldITFC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/art

It always absolutely staggers me that this is even a question. What is a human but an animal with a more powerful brain? Of course animals think and feel. It shows such an irrational, dogmatic blockage in people when they propose otherwise, whether through weak science, fear, or nutty religions, and it probably reflects one of the fundamental weaknesses in the human psyche that explains why we don't take care of our world.

We're not special and different.


Good work by Philogene...... GREAT WORK BY PHILOGENE!!!
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:04 - Jun 16 with 3594 viewsRyorry

Quite. I’d go further - I find it absolutely ridiculous that anyone could think they’re *not* conscious. You’ve only got to look at most people’s reactions to injured animals they find (usually kindness, concern, care) to see that.

Maybe those who don’t see it are why a lot of cruelty towards and neglect of animals goes on.

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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:10 - Jun 16 with 3571 viewsJ2BLUE

This was a question?!?

"I am a genuine believer in free speech, in the real sense, not the left wing sense, the 'I think free speech is important for people I agree with' Guardian readers" - Jonathan Pie ///// "These middle class, perma-offended, virtue-signalling woke w@nkers have declared that the great unwashed are just one tasteless joke away from turning into fascists" - Jonathan Pie ///// "In a sense, the political left’s attempts to silence ideas they cannot, or will not, debate are a confession of intellectual bankruptcy" - Thomas Sowell
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:14 - Jun 16 with 3546 viewsbluearmy4838

Speaking of animals and religion, this couldn’t have been better timed.

I took my dog for a walk earlier and she decided to stop for a dump directly opposite the church door. It was open, and as I looked in there’s an old boy in there watching my dog curl one out as the organist played the Lord is my shepherd. Can only apologise if it’s anyone on here.

As for the question, you only have to see any dogs reaction to seeing their owner back from being out to answer that.
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:21 - Jun 16 with 3517 viewseireblue

The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? (Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, 1789)

Good to see some people finally catching up.
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:21 - Jun 16 with 3518 viewsJ2BLUE

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:14 - Jun 16 by bluearmy4838

Speaking of animals and religion, this couldn’t have been better timed.

I took my dog for a walk earlier and she decided to stop for a dump directly opposite the church door. It was open, and as I looked in there’s an old boy in there watching my dog curl one out as the organist played the Lord is my shepherd. Can only apologise if it’s anyone on here.

As for the question, you only have to see any dogs reaction to seeing their owner back from being out to answer that.


Exactly. Their experiments showed animals can be curious and playful. Anyone who has spent 20 minutes in the park throwing a ball for them to chase knew that.

"I am a genuine believer in free speech, in the real sense, not the left wing sense, the 'I think free speech is important for people I agree with' Guardian readers" - Jonathan Pie ///// "These middle class, perma-offended, virtue-signalling woke w@nkers have declared that the great unwashed are just one tasteless joke away from turning into fascists" - Jonathan Pie ///// "In a sense, the political left’s attempts to silence ideas they cannot, or will not, debate are a confession of intellectual bankruptcy" - Thomas Sowell
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:22 - Jun 16 with 3507 viewsWeWereZombies

The questions that were posed when I did my animal rights section of the philosophy degree centred around sentience, a sense of awareness rather than intelligence or perception. This led to a type of spectrum of viewpoints that led to a cut off point but no one knew where that cut off point was, dogs seem to have all types of awareness so they are clearly sentient but a stumbling block for many is fish - after all some of them just swim around in circles, but then again it's because we put them in goldfish bowls.

There gets to be a problem with respect for all living things for many when we get to insects, so have no ill feeling at all about spraying everywhere to get rid of 'pests' and then there is the problem of never knowing if you have trodden on an ant or beetle as you walk across the fields. However there does, thankfully, seem to be a growing sentience amongst us humans about how we treat larger mammals, even if we continue to eat them.

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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:29 - Jun 16 with 3465 viewseireblue

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:21 - Jun 16 by J2BLUE

Exactly. Their experiments showed animals can be curious and playful. Anyone who has spent 20 minutes in the park throwing a ball for them to chase knew that.


Lambs are playful.
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:31 - Jun 16 with 3445 viewsJ2BLUE

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:29 - Jun 16 by eireblue

Lambs are playful.


I don't eat lambs

"I am a genuine believer in free speech, in the real sense, not the left wing sense, the 'I think free speech is important for people I agree with' Guardian readers" - Jonathan Pie ///// "These middle class, perma-offended, virtue-signalling woke w@nkers have declared that the great unwashed are just one tasteless joke away from turning into fascists" - Jonathan Pie ///// "In a sense, the political left’s attempts to silence ideas they cannot, or will not, debate are a confession of intellectual bankruptcy" - Thomas Sowell
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:33 - Jun 16 with 3432 viewseireblue

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:22 - Jun 16 by WeWereZombies

The questions that were posed when I did my animal rights section of the philosophy degree centred around sentience, a sense of awareness rather than intelligence or perception. This led to a type of spectrum of viewpoints that led to a cut off point but no one knew where that cut off point was, dogs seem to have all types of awareness so they are clearly sentient but a stumbling block for many is fish - after all some of them just swim around in circles, but then again it's because we put them in goldfish bowls.

There gets to be a problem with respect for all living things for many when we get to insects, so have no ill feeling at all about spraying everywhere to get rid of 'pests' and then there is the problem of never knowing if you have trodden on an ant or beetle as you walk across the fields. However there does, thankfully, seem to be a growing sentience amongst us humans about how we treat larger mammals, even if we continue to eat them.


Ahem….surely you meant,….even if some humans continue to eat them.
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:38 - Jun 16 with 3418 viewseireblue

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:31 - Jun 16 by J2BLUE

I don't eat lambs


Okay, I have a list of playful animals….
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:39 - Jun 16 with 3406 viewsJ2BLUE

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:38 - Jun 16 by eireblue

Okay, I have a list of playful animals….


I don't eat monkeys or dolphins either

"I am a genuine believer in free speech, in the real sense, not the left wing sense, the 'I think free speech is important for people I agree with' Guardian readers" - Jonathan Pie ///// "These middle class, perma-offended, virtue-signalling woke w@nkers have declared that the great unwashed are just one tasteless joke away from turning into fascists" - Jonathan Pie ///// "In a sense, the political left’s attempts to silence ideas they cannot, or will not, debate are a confession of intellectual bankruptcy" - Thomas Sowell
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:44 - Jun 16 with 3393 viewsRyorry

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:29 - Jun 16 by eireblue

Lambs are playful.


So are pigs. When I had my organic smallholding, I had a pair of Berkshires who found it extremely amusing to grab the toggles of the elasticated drawstrings on my waterproof jackets, walk back a couple of feet, and then let go. I was always covered in toggle-sized bruises!

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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:44 - Jun 16 with 3392 viewsWeWereZombies

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:33 - Jun 16 by eireblue

Ahem….surely you meant,….even if some humans continue to eat them.


Ahem...I wanted to generate a sense of collective responsibility.

OK, I just thought of my own situation and my conflicted set of attitudes.

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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:55 - Jun 16 with 3345 viewsWeWereZombies

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:44 - Jun 16 by Ryorry

So are pigs. When I had my organic smallholding, I had a pair of Berkshires who found it extremely amusing to grab the toggles of the elasticated drawstrings on my waterproof jackets, walk back a couple of feet, and then let go. I was always covered in toggle-sized bruises!


'Other risks posed by feral swine to people include attacks on individuals or collisions with vehicles and aircraft. Feral swine have been aggressive towards and even attacked farmers, golfers, hikers, and picnickers. Aggression can be increased when they associate people with food because of handouts and improper waste disposal.'

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/ope

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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:59 - Jun 16 with 3327 viewsRyorry

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:55 - Jun 16 by WeWereZombies

'Other risks posed by feral swine to people include attacks on individuals or collisions with vehicles and aircraft. Feral swine have been aggressive towards and even attacked farmers, golfers, hikers, and picnickers. Aggression can be increased when they associate people with food because of handouts and improper waste disposal.'

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/ope


Yeah but Phil's got rid of most of the feral swine on here ...

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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 11:00 - Jun 16 with 3320 viewsBuhrer

I thought we'd moved on to asking if plants were now?
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 11:22 - Jun 16 with 3290 viewsWeWereZombies

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 11:00 - Jun 16 by Buhrer

I thought we'd moved on to asking if plants were now?


You need to consider the fungi aspect of all this first:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

'Referencing an analogous function served by the World Wide Web in human communities, the many roles that mycorrhizal networks appear to play in woodland have earned them a colloquial nickname: the Wood Wide Web.'

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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 11:25 - Jun 16 with 3287 viewsSonOfSpock

Oftentimes Id rather spend time with animals than humans..
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 11:50 - Jun 16 with 3247 viewseireblue

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 10:44 - Jun 16 by WeWereZombies

Ahem...I wanted to generate a sense of collective responsibility.

OK, I just thought of my own situation and my conflicted set of attitudes.


Just being playful..
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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 14:52 - Jun 16 with 3109 viewsRyorry

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 11:22 - Jun 16 by WeWereZombies

You need to consider the fungi aspect of all this first:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

'Referencing an analogous function served by the World Wide Web in human communities, the many roles that mycorrhizal networks appear to play in woodland have earned them a colloquial nickname: the Wood Wide Web.'


Fungi are *amazing*.

If anyone hasn’t read it - ‘Entangled Life’ by Merlin Sheldrake’ - you won’t be sorry if you spend the time. ‘Astounding’ and ‘vision-changing’ are others’ descriptions of it.

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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 15:55 - Jun 16 with 3036 viewswkj

Even bumblebees are showing more sophistication than we were aware.

Bumblebees enjoying playing with balls


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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 17:20 - Jun 16 with 2970 viewsNthsuffolkblue

Of course animals are conscious, sentient, have feelings, etc.

If you truly think humans are not special nor different, though, you think that anything done to any animal should be in the eyes of the law the same as that action done to a human being.

The religious difference (in Christian belief at least) is the existence of a soul. I am quite sure that scientific experimentation is not going to determine the answer to that.

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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 18:48 - Jun 16 with 2897 viewsmutters

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 17:20 - Jun 16 by Nthsuffolkblue

Of course animals are conscious, sentient, have feelings, etc.

If you truly think humans are not special nor different, though, you think that anything done to any animal should be in the eyes of the law the same as that action done to a human being.

The religious difference (in Christian belief at least) is the existence of a soul. I am quite sure that scientific experimentation is not going to determine the answer to that.


Somebody I was with a while ago posed the question that if Aliens arrived on our planet, would they see humans as the intelligent ones? Obviously, we have dominated the planet, but at a fundamental level are we brighter or have the capacity/potential to be more intelligent than any other lifeform on the planet. Or is it that we based our supposed intelligence domination on measures that we have defined?

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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 19:29 - Jun 16 with 2859 viewsStochesStotasBlewe

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 11:22 - Jun 16 by WeWereZombies

You need to consider the fungi aspect of all this first:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

'Referencing an analogous function served by the World Wide Web in human communities, the many roles that mycorrhizal networks appear to play in woodland have earned them a colloquial nickname: the Wood Wide Web.'


Sorry fella, think my fat fingers pushed the abuse icon by mistake 😊

We have no village green, or a shop. It's very, very quiet. I can walk to the pub.

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Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 00:15 - Jun 17 with 2737 viewsWeWereZombies

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. on 19:29 - Jun 16 by StochesStotasBlewe

Sorry fella, think my fat fingers pushed the abuse icon by mistake 😊


Ah, no worries, I have done similar a couple of times myself recently in respect of putting quite decent and reasonable posters on ignore by mistake.

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