Get the latest tech news
Do insects have an inner life? Animal consciousness needs a rethink
A declaration signed by dozens of scientists says there is “a realistic possibility” for elements of consciousness in reptiles, insects and molluscs.
As the evidence has accumulated, scientists are “taking the topic seriously, not dismissing it out of hand as a crazy idea in the way they might have in the past,” says Jonathan Birch, a philosopher at the London School of Economics and Political Science and one of the authors of the declaration. Some animals — including chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes) 1, Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus) 2 and cleaner fishes ( Labroides dimidiatus) 3 — exhibit curiosity about the mark and even try to remove it. “This is perhaps similar to what we call rapid eye movement sleep in humans, which is when we have our most vivid dreams, which we interpret as conscious experiences,” says Bruno van Swinderen, a biologist at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, who studies fruit flies ’ behaviour and who also signed the declaration.
Or read this on Hacker News
