(May 15, 2015 at 11:12 am)JuliaL Wrote: As always, the answer to your question is, "It depends on your definition of emotion." ... So yes, flies have emotions..... maybe, depending on whether you are insisting that the 'and' makes the definition require subjective experience and if you think subjective experience can be shown in others.
It's risky to bring subjective experience in, when the operational definitions must leave it out. Call it a "gut" feeling that "something" attends the buzz of that brain. I started this as a sort of joke (flyswatting people!) but note that for an insect, the fruit fly has a sophisticated nervous system of 100K neurons, currently being assembled into an atlas as they can be identified individually in all flies of a given strain:
Wade in NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/science/14neuron.html
(May 15, 2015 at 8:55 am)TRJF Wrote: Possibly feeling a modicum of emotion = necessary for personhood.
Possibly feeling a modicum of emotion =/= sufficient for personhood.
...
And, um... yeah, I think the plot premise of The Fly is still absurd.
I guess by "personhood" I didn't mean human, but "sentient" enough to be recognized in law as possessing rights. The Fly is a pretty silly movie but it fit the theme.
