animal consciousness

Two dolphins are sitting under a dock and they see two people. One asks the other "are they conscious?" The other says "we can observe them making noise at each other, but there's no evidence they are communicating."

>>8270361
woah
really makes you think

>>8270334
>there humans for example who are able to avoid obstacles and are physiologically able to see but they are not aware of it and think they are blind

would blindsight be possible for an unconscious creature?

in the experiments i've heard of, consciously blind people reported some hard-to-pin-down feeling e.g. that a shape on a screen was an X etc.

could mean blindsight is dependent on such conscious feelings, i.e. that it emerges from conscious sight and is not the more basic kind

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27KB, 526x357px

>>8270334
Only humans have consciousness because we are the only thing in the universe that has a soul.

>>8270334

I would argue that most, if not all, animals are not consciouss. This is of course hard or if not impossible to prove.

Animals who might possess consciousness: mammals.

If we take a look at our brain, we can with ease establish that we have in reality three brains on top of each other.

First the most basic, called the reptile brain, incharge of the most basic instincts, eating, shitting, fight or flight, reproduce, survive.

Then we have the second brain, the primate brain, which is in charge of our primate instincts, like pack behavior and other primate attributes.

And then we have the third brain which primates and other mammals(except for some whales and dolphins) don't have. I would argue that this "third brain" is the reason for our complex thinking and consciousness.

The only other animals that have this "third brain" and some even a forth brain are some mammals of the sea, such as Orca Whales.

If Orca Whales are conscious reamins to be debated, but their intelligence is proven to be very complex and they have empathic abilites and a natural couriosity.

>>8270334
Consciousness is a spectrum. Not just on or off.

Many cetaceans, apes, and possibly even some birds probably have enough consciousness that they should be considered sapient.

>im not talking about physiological consciousness in the sense of being able to experience sensation

Then what kind of consciousness are you talking about? If you're just talking about being able to react to the enviroment then all animals are conscious by definition, unless they are dead.

>>8270502
that kind of consciousness that would allow these blind people i described to be aware of their ability to see

>>8270457
I love you man

>>8270529
Depends how you define aware.

1. Aware meaning they experience it.
2. Aware as in information systems in their brain has integrated their vision framework into higher brain functions.

If they feel the pain or not is still up to question even if scenario 2 is true.