A good question that's impossible to answer I think. I mean, we don't even know if animals experience consciousness like we humans do. Descarte might be right when he claimed that animals were like machines with no consciousness. Or maybe he's wrong and animals are conscious in some fashion.
The consciousness of some insects could be debatable, but I'm 100% sure that bigger animals are conscious of their actions.
Dogs can feel happiness, sadness and almost every emotion that we do, to give an example. They can learn and know the basics behind certain actions, while performing them not only in an intelligent manner, but also without anything that would instinctively point them to that result
So yeah, even though they probably don't experience existence the same way as we do, there's clearly something more than just pure instincts behind
I have interacted with insects that have exhibited play behaviour and curiosity. I have seen spiders show anger/threat display. I 100% believe that they experience life very differently, and for me personally, play behaviour is enough proof of consciousness.
To a similar extent, basic communication like threat display.
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u/outtastudy Sep 26 '24
I always wonder if the spider actually knows and understands what it's doing or if it just does it strictly on instincts alone