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Scientists push new paradigm of animal consciousness, saying even insects may be sentient (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 7 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/biodiversity@mander.xyz

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[-] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago

I’ve always thought of consciousness as a bottom-up phenomenon. Less conscious things come together to create a larger consciousness.

No evidence of that, obviously. But if we’re all assuming things, that’s what I’d assume.

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

That's a pretty cool theory, and you're not alone. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin theorized that all life is evolving into a universal collective consciousness. Renown physicist and mathematician David Darling theorized that God is possibly a collective human consciousness that reached back through time and created itself. What's wacky is that he has some mathematical formulas to substantiate parts of his theory.

[-] emptiestplace@lemmy.ml 3 points 7 months ago

I agree with the first part, but you lost me with "no evidence of that": everything conscious is "evidence of that". And, unless you're getting epistemological af, there really isn't a lot of assumption here: quarks -> atoms -> molecules -> organelles -> cells -> tissues -> organs -> systems -> organisms -> consciousness -> sentience.

[-] GrabtharsHammer@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

I like the idea. If we ever figure out what consciousness actually is, maybe we'll figure out how it adds up across its components.

this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2024

139 points (93.7% liked)

Biodiversity

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A community about the variety of life on Earth at all levels; including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi.

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Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem. Biodiversity refers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence. However, only around 1.2 million species have been identified and described so far, most of which are insects. This means that millions of other organisms remain a complete mystery.

Over generations, all of the species that are currently alive today have evolved unique traits that make them distinct from other species. These differences are what scientists use to tell one species from another. Organisms that have evolved to be so different from one another that they can no longer reproduce with each other are considered different species. All organisms that can reproduce with each other fall into one species. Read more...

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