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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.