Animal Consciousness: Behavioral flexibility is ubiquitous
A large body of scientific evidence stemming from studies of diverse species clearly shows that many nonhuman animals are conscious sentient beings. Let’s stop bickering and pretending that we don’t know this or that about animal consciousness or intentional behavioral flexibility. There are far too many examples to conclude we are exceptional and the only truly conscious beings. While we persist in pondering the obvious, ignoring what we already know and have long known, countless nonhumans continue to be abused by humankind.
MARC BEKOFF: Being conscious basically means being awake, aware, and able to perceive one’s thoughts, feelings, and surroundings. It represents what is called a “first-person” subjective experience. Behavioral flexibility — the ability to change your response when things inside of you and around you change — is a sign of awareness, or what scientists call a mark of consciousness. This shows that you’re thinking and acting with intention, not instinct.
Behavior flexibility means an individual is evaluating their situation, considering past experiences, and deciding what to do based on the present moment and imagined future interactions. It is closely aligned with being sentient which means being aware of and feeling what is happening to them and around them and changing their behavior.
A large body of scientific evidence stemming from studies of diverse species clearly shows that many nonhuman animals (animals) are conscious sentient beings. Some have gone as far as to argue that consciousness is coterminous with life. In his book The First Minds: Caterpillars, Karyotes, and Consciousness, Dr. Arthur Reber argues “sentience emerged with life itself.”
These studies also show that the biodiversity of consciousness and sentience is large and expanding, and insects are finding themselves living well within these arenas as members of the consciousness/sentience club. Research shows that the cognitive lives of insects are richer than many of us have ever imagined—not just in bees, but also in flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, and termites…
Some people will respond with something like, “We really don’t know whether nonhumans are really conscious”—really meaning conscious like us. However, it’s time to recognize that this sort of skepticism is unwarranted given the evidential database we now have for a wide array of nonhumans. Some people contrive definitions of consciousness that not only exclude nonhumans but also some humans.
Let’s stop bickering and pretending that we don’t know this or that about animal consciousness or intentional behavioral flexibility. There are far too many examples to conclude we are exceptional and the only truly conscious beings. While we persist in pondering the obvious, ignoring what we already know and have long known, countless nonhumans continue to be abused by humankind. SOURCE
RELATED VIDEO: