Poll: I am Aware!

[lukemdizzle]

I believe that all living things are alive

 

[Shapsters]

This poll is just a mess.

Animals do NOT include plants, they are completely different.

And you can't even question whether those are alive or not.

I think what you meant to ask was what has a conscious or reasoning ability or a soul?

Thats what I was thinking, I cannot vote becuase I consider plants to be living(they grow, breed, die etc) but I do not consider everything living.

 

[Mozared]

Anything that can independantly stay in motion through internal forces.

So a rock being dragged by the wind wouldn't count, since the wind isn't internal. Humans, animals and plants are all 'self-sustaining' and thus, do count. A computer (or even a very detailed cyborg) doesn't count because it relies on men to be activated or initially powered.

I realize the flaw in this theory - men probably once relied on something to get them powered as well, though I can counter this argument by stating that something is only alive if it is actually empowered by a similar force rather than another living being.

 

[A Weary Exile]

Everything from bacteria to us is "alive". Whether or not it has consciousness or self-awareness, is the better question, and if something is not self-aware then I don't think it has any "rights".

Some animals do possess rudimentary self awareness - no doubt about that. Dogs, cats, most large mammals, all have memories and can even think on a very primitive level. I have never disputed that.

However, they are beneath human beings. It's not because they don't have hands - we have tested their cognitive abilities, and we can be quite sure that the most intelligent non-human animal, can at most aspire to become as intelligent as a severely retarded human.

Most animals cannot recognize their reflections in mirrors. A few can recognize their reflections (certain types of monkeys and elephants and most likely dolphins), but they fail the intelligence test in other ways - for instance, no animal has a language as complex as any human language. Yes, dolphins, and whales can communicate to each other through squeaks and songs, but the range of those songs and squeaks is not broad enough/long enough to convey as much information as the spoken language. Some monkeys have learned very rudimentary sign language, but never enough to be compared to a human being (a few, noble minded researchers have falsified data saying that apes can learn full language, but that was later revealed to be just another plot to give another reason to preserve them. Seriously, all those "tests" that showed that an ape could fully learn language were later revealed to be the products of an over-active imagination on the part of the researchers who WANTED to believe that they could, and so were confirmation-biased).

The animal-rights crowd is right to take up an interest in defending animals. We do not have to be cruel to them. I would even say we don't or shouldn't eat them. But to pretend that animals are as intelligent as us, is frankly, silly. There is no evidence that they are, aside from wishful thinking. These PETA people and the like, have watched too many disney films with the anthropomorphized animals.

I have pets. I have been around quite a few animals in my life time. I have even studied them. They aren't automatons, no. They even have some very basic emotions. But if you are going to pretend that, even for a moment, an animal could look up at the stars in wonder, and comprehend the vast distances between them, that how the light which falls upon our eyes is actually millions of years old, and marvel at the majestic wonder of the Eagle Nebula - then you're daft.

Animals don't ponder their existence. They don't spend their time thinking about their life, why they are here, or what they are going to do. Animals eat, sleep and die, and are merely driven by their instincts. That's not REAL self-awareness.

You could make the point that many human beings are quite similar - that we only obey our instincts. And that is true for many people - however, human beings, all normal human beings, have the POTENTIAL for self-reflection. A human being can ponder their existence, even if they don't. A cow, on the other hand, just eats grass all day and goes Moooooo.

An animal's life is also limited - they can't improve themselves via their own actions. Evolution is not improvement by the way - merely adaptation. Human beings, on the other hand, can Dream and Dream big. We can envision a better future and actively work towards it. Animals can't.

I am also an atheist - I do not believe that we have been given a purpose in life, that we are a mere cosmic accident. I do not believe we were created to serve god. In the absence of any known god, what gives the world meaning? Well, we do. Meaning is created by an intelligence. Humanity has been given a blank sheet of paper on which to draw out our own meaning. We are not gods, far from it. Yet we are the creatures closest to the traditional notion of god, and we are the only creatures which have a shot at becoming something more than ourselves, through science and technology.

Thus, we are more important than animals. Yes, some are "aware" that the environment exists. Some even display primitive emotions. Yet their lives are fundamentally meaningless since they are not intelligent enough to give themselves meaning. Their lives, as our lives, are the products of nature, meaningless nature. Yet we can give OURSELVES meaning. They cannot. They are doomed to eventually go extinct, like all other species when the sun runs out of fuel. But humanity doesn't have to go extinct - our technology might enable us to travel to other planets, find new stars on which to live, and who knows, maybe even create our own universe to ensure the eternal survival of our species.

We are the high species. We must survive, no matter what. Otherwise the universe has no meaning.

Are you posting or going for a pulitzer?

 

[A teenage old man]

Everything. I am really partial to the calculator thing cause I always like to believe that when I turn it on its like I'm waking it up. Same with my laptop, like when ever its low on battery it works slower, might be a coincidence, but I think that its like my laptop's tired. I actually named it Bob. Named my pillow too, but not cause its alive, cause I wanted to give her a girl name so it would be like I slept with a girl every night.

 

[aussiesniper]

*snip*

The world needs more people like this.

Also, nice Escher avatar.

 

[feather240]

For example, if I kill a chicken, what do I kill? A clucking organism whose only aim in life is to eat grains, copulate and sit on eggs. What a tragic loss.

If I kill a human, what do I kill? Potentially, almost anything. I could be killing a low life drug dealer whose only goal is to amass money, just another pointless "chicken-like" life if you will. Or I could be killing an artist, who creates some of the finest music or literature of his/her generation. I could be killing a potential scientist whose work elevates humanity higher, uncovers more of the fundamental workings of the universe. I could be killing a social worker who works to keep human beings happy in society. I could be killing an electrician who helps maintain the wiring which allows our technology to work, to improve, to advance. If I kill a human being, I kill something with POTENTIAL. If I kill a chicken, well, it's not like that chicken would have done anything with its life, correct?

A chicken's life, a rat's life, a cow's life - is one of such unbearable, pointless, mindless drudgery, that it couldn't possibly be worth anything. Their lives are so limited, so pathetically mundane, that the life of these creatures, shouldn't matter. That's not to say we should hate them or be cruel to them - even a chicken feels pain (they have nerves). And yet..... if we need to kill them, why not? Medical science needs animal organisms to test drugs on. PETA claims we don't, but I am an ACTUAL scientist who does biological research at the University of Queensland. PETA are wrong - we need animal models because tissue cultures are not advanced enough to simulate how a working organism processes a drug. Animal models are very useful because the biological processes of a mouse at a GENETIC level are quite similar to how human genes work. The fundamental cellular mechanics between many animals are very similar. The difference between a mouse and a human arise out of the higher-level ORGANIZATIONAL differences between us. But the similarities between humans and mice allow us to obtain useful data from mouse experiments.

Simply put we need to kill mice to do research. We cannot use human beings - that's immoral because human lives can have meaning and it's also too expensive and difficult to house/hold/test hundreds of human test subjects (it would be completely impractical, and immoral)

A human being can become something greater than what they currently are. The human species, might, through gene modification, become perfect, noble, immortal. I am a transhumanist - our technology will one day enable us to become something greater than what we are.

But mere animals lower than human beings, cannot do this. Animal lives are not worth as much.

What about the ecosystem they support, and aren't we related to animals?

 

[Berethond]

For example, if I kill a chicken, what do I kill? A clucking organism whose only aim in life is to eat grains, copulate and sit on eggs. What a tragic loss.

If I kill a human, what do I kill? Potentially, almost anything. I could be killing a low life drug dealer whose only goal is to amass money, just another pointless "chicken-like" life if you will. Or I could be killing an artist, who creates some of the finest music or literature of his/her generation. I could be killing a potential scientist whose work elevates humanity higher, uncovers more of the fundamental workings of the universe. I could be killing a social worker who works to keep human beings happy in society. I could be killing an electrician who helps maintain the wiring which allows our technology to work, to improve, to advance. If I kill a human being, I kill something with POTENTIAL. If I kill a chicken, well, it's not like that chicken would have done anything with its life, correct?

A chicken's life, a rat's life, a cow's life - is one of such unbearable, pointless, mindless drudgery, that it couldn't possibly be worth anything. Their lives are so limited, so pathetically mundane, that the life of these creatures, shouldn't matter. That's not to say we should hate them or be cruel to them - even a chicken feels pain (they have nerves). And yet..... if we need to kill them, why not? Medical science needs animal organisms to test drugs on. PETA claims we don't, but I am an ACTUAL scientist who does biological research at the University of Queensland. PETA are wrong - we need animal models because tissue cultures are not advanced enough to simulate how a working organism processes a drug. Animal models are very useful because the biological processes of a mouse at a GENETIC level are quite similar to how human genes work. The fundamental cellular mechanics between many animals are very similar. The difference between a mouse and a human arise out of the higher-level ORGANIZATIONAL differences between us. But the similarities between humans and mice allow us to obtain useful data from mouse experiments.

Simply put we need to kill mice to do research. We cannot use human beings - that's immoral because human lives can have meaning and it's also too expensive and difficult to house/hold/test hundreds of human test subjects (it would be completely impractical, and immoral)

A human being can become something greater than what they currently are. The human species, might, through gene modification, become perfect, noble, immortal. I am a transhumanist - our technology will one day enable us to become something greater than what we are.

But mere animals lower than human beings, cannot do this. Animal lives are not worth as much.

That's... so perfect...
Great job.

 

[WayOutThere]

Plants aren't sentient. Some animals are more sentient than others, its a continuum.

 

[Disaster Button]

I believe sentience comes once we make a decision by weighing up both sides. Also, it was said once that for a creature to be sentient, it must first experience boredom, which a lot of animals certainly do.

Altohugh Robots, if the ever exist, will be sentient once they develop sufficient intellignece, I don't think calculators are. Interesting question tho

Edit: Voted for Animals and Plants cos there is no Just Animal option.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Only animals and people. They are the only creature that are aware of there surrounding and can react to them.

 

[AvsJoe]

I believe that all living things feel pain. You can tell, for instance, whether or not a tree is in pain by touching it and, I don't know how to put this, listening with your heart. We may have lost our ability to communicate with nature for the most part, but if you just listen, you can feel their emotions. Yes, the Pocahontas/FernGully shit works.

 

[feather240]

Only animals and people. They are the only creature that are aware of there surrounding and can react to them.

Alright, but when does an animal reach that point. They're all made out of cells, so when does a cell colony become a conscious being?

Edit: Nice user name! *self righteous snicker*)

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

What about Silicon Heaven for the Machines?

"But where do all the calculators go?"
"They Just Die!"

[sub]such a heart-breaking tale...[/sub]

 

[Ultrasnail]

i thought about it but it just made my head hurt.

*goes away to eat icecream*

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Well, seeing as how you changed "life" so "sentience" mid-way through the voting, that's going to make for some confusing statistics.

Everything up there is alive, only humans are sentient.

 

[DrDeath3191]

The only thing that I can be certain is sentient is humanity.

 

[feather240]

What about Silicon Heaven for the Machines?

"But where do all the calculators go?"
"They Just Die!"

[sub]such a heart-breaking tale...[/sub]

What if we baptized the calculators?

OT: I don't understand what silicon chips are.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Only animals and people. They are the only creature that are aware of there surrounding and can react to them.

Alright, but when does an animal reach that point. They're all made out of cells, so when does a cell colony become a conscious being?

Edit: Nice user name! *self righteous snicker*)

Self-awareness is one of the markers for sentience. It's difficult to say what creatures are aware of themselves, but most animals and people seem to be self aware. Plants do not, nor do simple lifeforms like worms.

 

[sgtshock]

If it has a brain bigger than a golf ball, it's probably self-aware. Humans are the only things that are actually sentient though.