Sam Harris On Defining Consciousness

[AFTT47]

Earthworms and geckos are -both- demonstrably conscious, though, granted, bricks don't seem to be.  The idea, amigo, is that we might avoid saying things like "earthworms aren't conscious" - and then using that misconception to form some further idea, plan, or concept.  As a related aside, if there are varying degrees of consciousness...earthworms are actually pretty damned advanced.  That we don't think of them that way has little to do with the facts of the matter.

That's news to me. I'd love to see someone demonstrate that an earthworm is conscious.