Humor The real Olympic performers 24 Aug 200818 Sep 2017 Certain nations who shall remain nameless have been doing a fair bit of skiting about how well they’ve done. So I thought I’d do a bit of number crunching. Of course it isn’t completed (or is it?) but using the Wikipedia population figures and the official medal tally, I plotted… Read More
Humor Also, you don’t always get what you want 1 Dec 201022 Jun 2018 Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal Read More
General Science On ID and the public awareness of evolution 20 Apr 2008 Imagine a scientific theory that very few people know or understand. Let’s call it “valency theory“. Now suppose someone objects to valency theory because it undercuts their view of a particular religious doctrine, such as transubstantiation. So they gather money from rich members of their faith community and start a… Read More
John, where do you draw the line on which animals have consciousness? Obviously a lot homo sapiens have it. Not all of course. Do you think the other great Apes have some level of consciousness? What about other mamals like dogs and cats? I reckon my cat knows what he’s up to, and he spends an bit of time in front of the mirror admiring his reflection. Some birds seem to be pretty good at problem solving, e.g. corvids, but does that mean they have any consciousness? And then there’s those cephalopods beloved by PZ?
Seriously that’s a complex question. The short answer is that I think there is no single state or property of consciousness, so no boundary. It depends on what you are tracking.
Fair enough, that’s how I see it. I was just asking after you mentioned that chickens have no consciousness. I don’t think chickens are up there in introspection and internal life, but I have no idea if they do or don’t ponder the existential angst of a diet of snails or pellets. Probably unlikely.
Speaking of zombies, I’ve seen a chicken dance (well, run around like …) after a voodoo priest bit its head off. But I couldn’t figure out what it was thinking. Probably, it just wanted to be loved.