Comment on Don't forget where we came from and what shaped us as a species. The Jungle.

ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• starman2112@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  So does my phone when the battery is low. Do you reckon I’m hurting it by not plugging it in right now?

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  • remon@ani.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Your analogy basically boils down to Descartes’ hypothesis about “animal machines”.

    There is a legitimate debate to be had about about the spectrum of consciousness/awareness and where it apparently stops. Most people would agree that mammals and birds are on it. I’ve seen the need for a central nervous system seen pop up a lot, but there is also octopuses, which are highly intelligent without having one. You can even find something that I can only describe as “intelligence” and a decent level of awarness in spiders, best example being the genus Portia. So where does the spectrum really end?

    Some plants are capable of some impressive actions, like beansprouts systematically moving and “searching” for stuff to grab on, a lot of plants use pheremonal communications to warn each others of predators … there is good stuff here. So are the just totally of the spectrum of awareness and purley operating on a mechanical level, like a phone? I’m not sure.

    The point is, we don’t really know what consciousness is. And while this video is quite dated, I’m not aware of a better take (though it doesn’t really do much in practice).

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