News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds. Parent comment

Re:Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds by User23 on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @09:06AM (#40717380)
Humanity observably is in a category of its own. The human authors of the Bible are just some of the many persons who have made this observation.

One obvious example is morality. Take climate change. No reasonable person says that the life forms responsible for the Great Oxygenation Event were doing something immoral. On the other hand plenty of people say that humans causing a comparatively trivial shift in atmospheric composition is immoral.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds by RoyalHenOil on Thursday June 20, 2024 @07:21PM (#40744569)
The Great Oxidation Event was caused by cyanobacteria — which are an extremely far cry from the intelligent, multicellular animals that are under discussion here.

Saying that chimpanzee cognition is categorically different from human cognition because cyanobacteria lack a sense of morality is like saying that you and I have categorically different reproductive functions because mushrooms produce spores.

[ Parent | on HN ]