>> So, while some beekeepers may not understand, the bees certainly do.
> Beekeepers may not understand everything, but they
> understand these kind of smug statements.
There's no call for heckling. The question itself "Do Honey Bee Hear?"
seems a deliberately obtuse attempt to not understand (or ignore) the work
that has already been done, published, and left for anyone to attempt to
disprove or replicate.
> If we do not differentiate between these [conscious vs unconscious
responses] because they are both neural activities,
> then the conversation stops there. On the other hand, if we grant that
bees have mental content, we can proceed.
But this is a different question entirely! The question has been asked "Do
Bees Hear?", and the consensus seems to be "yes". To then step back and ask
if bees are reacting to the airborne sounds they hear consciously,
unconsciously, or unconditionally (akin
to Tropisms and Turgor Movements in plants) seems nothing but a hasty
retreat being covered by semantic quibbling.
So,
1) Do Bees Have Brains? Yes, and with more neurons than many other insects.
2) Do those brains get input from the bee's Johnston's Organ? Again, yes,
like many other insects.
3) Do the bees react to airborne sounds in a consistent, testable manner?
Yes, as discussed here.
To get side-tracked on a philosophical discussion of "consciousness" as
applied to bees adds nothing, as the issue is a morass of unknowable,
unfalsifiable, untestable anthropomorphisms. Could one tie a messier Gordian
Knot? ("I cannot." "You CAN knot?" "No, I cannot knot." "NOT knot?" "Who's
there?")
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