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You could think of it in terms of minimal states, sunshine and moisture might make moss happy. But happy for moss is only a very mossy kind of happyness and so
by ktizo 14y ago
You could think of it in terms of minimal states, sunshine and moisture might make moss happy. But happy for moss is only a very mossy kind of happyness and so is just a fairly simple form of cellular "Woo!" and not a lot else.
- SoftwareMaven 14y agoAt that point, "conscious" means nothing more than "exists", and we already have a good word for that. I do think we should give animals far more credit than we do. Personality seems like it would be heavily related to and influenced by/influences consciousness, and most animals express personality to some degree.
- slurgfest 14y agoWell, it's an interesting topic. I don't know why moss can't be (say) indifferent to its own growth. How does one know, other than that it seems to stand to reason? It seems to me that even cute fuzzy animals are much more indifferent to things than people tend to be. Even people are often pretty indifferent when they are in slightly altered states, without fundamentally changing their brain structures. If I am totally ridiculously zonked on GHB and barbiturates and someone breaks my toe, I might notice that and still be indifferent until I dry up. The outrage only comes after I start making decisions and putting things together, otherwise maybe it is just something that happens. Not that I suggest breaking bears' toes or anything.