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Sat, 22 Jan 2000 19:46:14 EST |
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As Professor Joad of the Brains Trust would say "It all depends what you mean
by consciousness". My dictionary gives awareness, thought. A creature with
as many sense organs as a bee cannot but be aware, otherwise there would be
no point in having them. The next question is what does s/he do, having
become aware of stimuli through her sensory organs?
Either s/he just reacts to the stimulus in a pre programmed way, perhaps
after a genetically related threshold is crossed or else she exercises
choice; to visit this flower or that; to work or to rest; to rob or to
forage; to sting or not to sting; to feed this larva or that - there are many
occasions in her life when a bee may exercise choice.
To my mind, if a bee or any other being, does what s/he does on all occasions
because s/he can do no other thing this is not consciousness. If the
creature chooses to do this or do that, whether for good and sufficient
reason, or just on a whim, I would take it to be a sign of consciousness.
Chris Slade
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