<
https://www.quantamagazine.org/insects-and-other-animals-have-consciousness-experts-declare-20240419/>
"In 2022, researchers at the Bee Sensory and Behavioral Ecology Lab at Queen
Mary University of London observed bumblebees doing something remarkable: The
diminutive, fuzzy creatures were engaging in activity that could only be
described as play. Given small wooden balls, the bees pushed them around and
rotated them. The behavior had no obvious connection to mating or survival, nor
was it rewarded by the scientists. It was, apparently, just for fun.
The study on playful bees is part of a body of research that a group of
prominent scholars of animal minds cited today, buttressing a new declaration
that extends scientific support for consciousness to a wider suite of animals
than has been formally acknowledged before. For decades, there’s been a broad
agreement among scientists that animals similar to us — the great apes, for
example — have conscious experience, even if their consciousness differs from
our own. In recent years, however, researchers have begun to acknowledge that
consciousness may also be widespread among animals that are very different from
us, including invertebrates with completely different and far simpler nervous
systems.
The new declaration, signed by biologists and philosophers, formally embraces
that view. It reads, in part: “The empirical evidence indicates at least a
realistic possibility of conscious experience in all vertebrates (including all
reptiles, amphibians and fishes) and many invertebrates (including, at minimum,
cephalopod mollusks, decapod crustaceans and insects).” Inspired by recent
research findings that describe complex cognitive behaviors in these and other
animals, the document represents a new consensus and suggests that researchers
may have overestimated the degree of neural complexity required for
consciousness."
Via
Fix the News:
<
https://fixthenews.com/good-news-on-immunisation-conservation-in-mongolia-and-clean-energy-in-china/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
