Do insects feel emotions?

>>8118797
God gave them a complex social life - it doesn't work the same way it works in mammals but there's a pleasure in their life and there are some sorts of emotions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFilNsLUvT0

All forms of life in the state God made them cherish life.

>>8118797
>insects are like organic robots
same as other animals

It is generally discouraged to think of organisms as more or less advanced because we tend to define advanced as "human like" (e.g. having emotion and empathy, complex body form and various tissue types). But all these things are just adaptations to very unique niches. Some are newer than others, but all organisms alive today are here because they are adapted to their niche. Emotion and empathy are just adaptations unique to vertebrates, and likely arose due to a combination of traits and selection unique to some of these organisms'(our) history.

In short were all organic robots anon

>>8118872
>>8118891
neither of you read OP. danke for contribootin.

With a nervous system as small as theirs, there is necessarily a lesser capacity for the complex information processing that is required for emotions.

But good luck even projecting human traits onto animals

>>8118905
The size of the nervous system doesn't matter, retard, the type of it is more important. Insects are much higher on evolutionary level than people give them credit. Ants especially.

>>8118797
do the following experiment: sneak up on a fat fly with tweezers, then quickly grab it by one of its wings and just hold it.

It will try to escape a bit, but soon realize the futility and stop.

Now, move the fly towards some fat spider sitting in her net.
The fly will proceed to go ABSOLUTELY BATSHIT

seriously, there is no doubt flies can feel mortal fear. And obviously that is an evolutionary advantage, so it's expected.

Compassion, for the most part, doesnt seem to be an evolutionary advantage. At most, it could work in favour of social insects, but mostly they just work in big numbers, so feeling sorry some crippled ant in an ant colony of millions seems a bit pointless

>>8118797

>But that would mean that insects are no more advanced than bacteria, which can't be true.

dafuk

>>8119263
>some crippled ant in an ant colony of millions seems a bit pointless

One could argue that the ant colony is alive and that the ants are closer to neurons than independent agents.

Nobody knows what emotions are and neither do you.

>>8119263
But is that emotion kicking in or just evolution?

>>8120688
Doesn't the same question apply to humans too?

>>8120688
Emotions are evolved, so yes

>>8120689
Not him but I would argue no.
Evolutionary is like a person blinking when someone claps or the way your knee jerks when you hit it.

But hey, I don't have any education in this area.

>>8120803
I think the word your looking for is "reflex" or "instinct"

>>8120803
Yeah, neither do I. I think it gets a lot more complicated because you have evolution of culture (memes) as well as biological evolution going on (genes).

I'd argue (from an uneducated position as well) that all behavior is caused by evolution (cultural or biological)

I'm not sure that's a reasonable question. Ants have been known to value other females lives more than males. The reasoning is that the strategy of keeping sisters alive increases inclusive fitness as the coefficient of relatedness is higher for the sisters than the brothers. This has to do with the males being heterozygous

>>8119256
>evolutionary level
And you're calling other people retarded?

>>8118797
Advanced is a somewhat meaningless word, I would discourage you from using it when talking about evolving organisms. There is no straight ladder in nature, you don't progress up levels like vidya.
Each individual ant doesn't have much in the way of emotion or personality, they function as a collective to make complex decisions based on simple rules.
Check out this documentary at about the 1 hour 4 minute mark to see an example of the decision making process of leafcutter ants when searching for a new nest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n0SkIGARuo

I've worked with bumblebees for half a year, but under lab conditions so this might not be as meaningful

but when workers were on the floor of the flying cage, clearly in a adverse state, no other bumblebee really seemed to care. They'd still crawl around the weakened bee, sometimes even over here, without paying much attention

I have also seen workerbees carry (presumably ill) larvae outside of the nest, leaving them in the flying cage to die, which sounds heartless but could be seen as some sort of utilitarianism in case of infectious disease which could spread in the nest
this is probably evolutionary acquired behaviour

I faintly remember reading that they care for sick workerbees, but as I mentioned I didn't see any of that behavior

Thankfully, no.
I say thankfully because the life of an insect would be too much to bear for a creature with human emotions.

There are animals that feel emotions and empathy and happiness and suffering. But these are barely felt to any significant degree. Only to the point where it's useful to keep their species functioning. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing special separating human emotions from animal emotions. Just the fact that we feel them more strongly. We only hold them in such high regard because of our innate sentimentality.

Some animals feel certain things more strongly to survive in an ecosystem. Birds see a broader spectrum of colours than other creatures. Dogs have an incredibly keen sense of smell. Dolphins can sense the tiniest vibrations in water. Likewise, human beings feel pain and misery stronger than any other creature.
It's observable. Any creature from any species can easily recover from certain events a human would struggle with. The death of their children would barely phase a bird or a mouse, but it can incapacitate a human. The destruction of their home would be forgotten by a dog within day, but it can throw a human into the depths of despair. Depression, hopelessness, misery, and angst about ones death is alien to animals, but familiar to humans. This is our strength. It allows us to propagate.

Birds fly, fish swim, humans suffer.
Kind of sad, but also darkly comical, the idea of a creature who only lives to suffer.

File: TheSweetReleaseOfDeath.gif (1MB, 400x192px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 400x192px

>>8123533
>Birds fly, Fish swim, Humans suffer.
I sometimes wonder about the ethics of creating future sapient robots. Should we really bring a new mind into this shit?

>>8118797
Yes.

A male moth feels horny when he smells a female moth nearby.

>>8123565
Don't we all
>Moths are haut

I'll show her what she can do with that chrysalis.
Booyahkasha!

>>8118872
>god

nice meme