Scientists Say Even Insects May Be Sentient

I don't know what this could do to our food supply.
I like bacon and steak!!
Can't afford them anymore ... But I like them!
And it really could impact the food supply in places
like Japan and the Far East that eat a lot of fish.


News article on scientists and what they think about sentient beings in the animal kingdom. According to 'top scientists', consciousness exists in many more animals than we thought, including yummy critters like fish, lobsters and octopus.

I can back that up about fish. We had two goldfish in a 50 gallon tank and they grew to be about a foot long each. One died. We took it out of the tank and for three days the other fish wouldn't eat or move from the bottom of the tank. I think the one fish missed the other one that it shared the tank with for so many years.

The article is a long but interesting read about 10 years of research and animal experimentation that has come to the conclusion that more animals than we thought have consciousness and are sentient.

NBC Science News

Nearly 40 researchers signed “The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness,” which was first presented at a conference at New York University on Friday morning. It marks a pivotal moment, as a flood of research on animal cognition collides with debates over how various species ought to be treated.

The declaration says there is “strong scientific support” that birds and mammals have conscious experience, and a “realistic possibility” of consciousness for all vertebrates — including reptiles, amphibians and fish. That possibility extends to many creatures without backbones, it adds, such as insects, decapod crustaceans (including crabs and lobsters) and cephalopod mollusks, like squid, octopus and cuttlefish.

“When there is a realistic possibility of conscious experience in an animal, it is irresponsible to ignore that possibility in decisions affecting that animal,” the declaration says. “We should consider welfare risks and use the evidence to inform our responses to these risks.”

a reply to: FlyersFan

I like animals and I have lots of respect for all those beings.

But I've got a bad feeling about this.

I can almost hear some of our governments thinking: "Oh, insects are sentient, so now you live in Nature or in some remote place, and we don't like that because you're self sufficient, so let's round up everybody and put them into urban facilities because we want to monitor you and remove your freedom of movements to save the insects (we wouldn't want you to step on one eh?)".

If all animals are sentient I hope all those spiders who come inside believe in God and say their prayers before my hubby spots them climbing our walls.

The wolf eats you without even thinking about whether you are aware of what is happening. He doesn't care because he's hungry. The bear will eat you alive.

Nature is cruel and always has been. The fact that we humans still don't want to admit that animals can also have emotions is evidence of our own ignorance.

Only we humans imagine that we are better than ourselves and are called to greater things. And that will be our downfall. Nature will continue to exist in its cruelty, but will also be accompanied by beautiful moments.

Everyone just wait until it becomes mainstream that plants also have a kind of consciousness and are not just biological machines. That's what they said about animals too. And then what do we do then? Are we eating ourselves? What will the vegans do?

And why is there actually straw here?

originally posted by: Naftalin
Nature is cruel and always has been.

True. There is that kids song from Lion King ... Circle of Life ... but really it should be Circle of Death. Nearly everything alive on this planet is alive because something else died to feed it. Even the plants are alive because something died and rotted in the ground to feed the ground before the plants spring up.

a reply to: FlyersFan

Wow..
All these years and I had no idea that my car’s windshield was something’s boogeyman..😂🚘🪰

when i see bugs in my house, i get caterpillars or spiders, in summer a fly gets in. i spray ant barrier outside to keep ants out. when i see bugs, i pick them up in a cup if they might bite and let them outside, and tell them to avoid people and other big animals.

i try my best to do this.

one of my tricks is, in summer- i keep water sprayer filled with just basic water.
then if a fly gets in, you can zap him with water- he gets tired from the water, cant fly.
then you gently pick him up with a napkin, very gently-
and then gently place the napkin outside to let him and the napkin dry.

and he flies away if done correct.

flys are so fast, thats my trick which took me years to fathom, but works good.

Why is this somehow news to people?

Everything has some degree of sentientness why wouldn’t it?

Does it react to stimulus in a regular way? Probably sentient.

When I was a kid we used to ice fish lots. I was told when I was very young that fish do not feel pain so catching them and letting them freeze on the ice slowly wasn’t cruel it wasn’t anything at all. Not true naturally but I believed it for a good long time until I studied biology and found that’s not true. Maybe not pain in the way a human does but the fish knows when it’s freezing, suffocating or being cut open it receives nervous feed therefor feels.

Needs to say I now swiftly “bonk” the fish I catch these days so as not to prolong the agony. Just out of the water and instant kill.

So I wager that anything that react to stimulus probably has a rudimentary mind at least to keep track and order processes.

That’s not to say I respect everything because of its possible sentientness. I still absolutely crush flys and smash mosquitoes without even a second thought sending their souls screaming back into the void from where they came.

a reply to: FlyersFan

I think anything that has a fear of death is even the cockroach runs from the shoe .

a reply to: FlyersFan

Yeah, we know that from our pets like dogs and cats. Well not so much cats because they're insane from the get go. In fact the my bombay is plotting right now.

a reply to: FlyersFan

I’m doing my part!

a reply to: andy06shake

a reply to: andy06shake

I love Starship Troopers .. and their quest for the smart bug.
Excellent rainy day afternoon laying-on-the-couch goof off TV watching.

So they're basically changing the definition of sentience because they went into the "study" with an agenda.

This is what passes for "science" these days.

originally posted by: YourFaceAgain
So they're basically changing the definition of sentience because they went into the "study" with an agenda.

This is what passes for "science" these days.

The new trend is to change definitions so that words will suit their purpose.
I believe bloodbath was recently changed.

originally posted by: YourFaceAgain
So they're basically changing the definition of sentience because they went into the "study" with an agenda. This is what passes for "science" these days.

Either they changed the definition, or they threw away the old notions that were religiously driven that only humans were sentient etc etc ... Don't know which. Either way, it's an interesting article.

a reply to: Athetos

That’s not to say I respect everything because of its possible sentientness. I still absolutely crush flys and smash mosquitoes without even a second thought sending their souls screaming back into the void from where they came.

I electrocute house flies now, because I just couldn't handle the screams of terror and agony that came from the fly paper!

I love the little baby flies, they're so curious and trusting, but they grow up to nasty big, egg laying flies! So, even the babies gotta go! LOL

originally posted by: Sookiechacha
a reply to: Athetos

That’s not to say I respect everything because of its possible sentientness. I still absolutely crush flys and smash mosquitoes without even a second thought sending their souls screaming back into the void from where they came.

I electrocute house flies now, because I just couldn't handle the screams of terror and agony that came from the fly paper!

I love the little baby flies, they're so curious and trusting, but they grow up to nasty big, egg laying flies! So, even the babies gotta go! LOL

It's all laughs right now, but...
Might want to stock up on some RAID too, before your leftist friends in government make killing insects a gross Misdemeanor punishable by a $5000 dollar fine and up to 5 years in a state prison.
They will use this fake science to add a thousand more regulations and grow government even bigger.

originally posted by: Sookiechacha
a reply to: Athetos

That’s not to say I respect everything because of its possible sentientness. I still absolutely crush flys and smash mosquitoes without even a second thought sending their souls screaming back into the void from where they came.

I electrocute house flies now, because I just couldn't handle the screams of terror and agony that came from the fly paper!

This is the best thing you've ever posted here.

It is the way.

a reply to: Sookiechacha