News

23367 readers

2714 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

247

Scientists push new paradigm of animal consciousness, saying even insects may be sentient (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

165 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Far more animals than previously thought likely have consciousness, top scientists say in a new declaration — including fish, lobsters and octopus.

Bees play by rolling wooden balls — apparently for fun. The cleaner wrasse fish appears to recognize its own visage in an underwater mirror. Octopuses seem to react to anesthetic drugs and will avoid settings where they likely experienced past pain.

All three of these discoveries came in the last five years — indications that the more scientists test animals, the more they find that many species may have inner lives and be sentient. A surprising range of creatures have shown evidence of conscious thought or experience, including insects, fish and some crustaceans.

That has prompted a group of top researchers on animal cognition to publish a new pronouncement that they hope will transform how scientists and society view — and care — for animals.

Nearly 40 researchers signed “The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness,” which was first presented at a conference at New York University on Friday morning. It marks a pivotal moment, as a flood of research on animal cognition collides with debates over how various species ought to be treated.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Humans have a really, really hard time NOT assigning human attributes to every other living thing.

One thing that makes this hypothesis seem possible, is that some researchers are suggesting consciousness is external, and eternal. Meaning all living things are essentially antennae.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That really reeks of "scientists invent God." And I question the actual motives of any researcher that would suggest such an idea.

Show me the data that suggest that. Describe a test that might prove it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I think Penrose was talking about devising one. What do you think the motives would be?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Source?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

This is basic, but there are thousands of lectures, books, and papers on it, going back to the 80's.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/think-well/201906/can-consciousness-exist-outside-the-brain

https://youtu.be/Ci2npsJIvFc?si=Vaf2Z9m6MLsbgMjR

Or anything with Donald Hoffman, which there is a ton.

Basically, our brain just handles our cognitive needs, and filters consciousness, which is a fundamental property of the universe. Think what you will, but this is a pretty popular theory in the past decade or so. Among physicists and neurologists alike...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

So, there's a chance that there's an afterlife, I mean if the brain isn't the SOURCE of conciousness? But are you sure it's popular? I heard neurologists were strictly "Brain is the source"