RE: Can I just say, and I'm just being honest...
March 27, 2018 at 12:43 pm
(This post was last modified: March 27, 2018 at 12:48 pm by Edwardo Piet.)
(March 27, 2018 at 11:15 am)vulcanlogician Wrote: I think they are. It's pretty evident. Why do you disagree, Hammy? What qualifies as sentience in your book?
Having a brain developed enough to be sentient.
It's not about being intelligent... as it's at least in theory possible to have a brain developed enough for sentience but not for intelligence. But when brains develop both tend to develop.
Would you call a cow intelligent? Not to humans certainly. But I'd certainly describe ALL mammals as sentient. Mammalian brains are a lot more advanced and developed than reptilian or bird brains, or the brains of fish. I'd put octopuses as far more sentient than birds or reptiles. Their neurons are an indication of both intelligence and sentience. But intelligence and sentience are not the same thing. A human with a severe learning disability may not be intelligent, but they certainly have the neurons and the human brain required to have all the sentience of a non-mentally disabled human being. All mammals are definitely sentient, at least on some level. A mouse is perhaps less sentient than us, but not much less (and I think all primates are so close in their sentience that torturing another primate is basically equally immoral to torturing a human)... and I'd cry for the death of a pet mouse but I wouldn't for the death of a pet lizard. Even though I'd rather have a pet lizard. And I don't think a lizard (or chicken) is sentient at all.
Perhaps some birds that are more advanced are sentient. I'm not sure. I'm not sure how close to mammalian brains the birds with the most advanced brains are. But reptiles and fish definitely aren't even remotely sentient and I'd say at least 90% of birds aren't. Perhaps some of the crow family is, as they are pretty smart. And again, I don't think that intelligence makes sentience... I think it's just a good indication of a developed brain, and a developed brain is an indication of sentience. If raven and crow brains are not really any more advanced than chickens or other birds, then I think their so-called clever tricks are more the genius of natural selection, than any real intelligence or brain power. The same could perhaps be said of octopuses, but they at least have the 500 million neurons to prove their sentience.
P.S. If this convo goes on for too long it may need splitting away from the thread lol.
