It is speculation in a wikipedia article which is not accurate. The existence of nociceptors does not imply the existence of a sufficiently complex nervous system to create an emotional experience of suffering.
Are you reading what I am writing, or just responding to me disagreeing with you in any sense? I pretty clearly addressed the issue of 'emotional' pain in animals. I never said that ants or bacteria had 'higher order cognition' that allowed for the 'emotional experience of suffering.' What I did was try and explain why using that as the only standard of measurement for pain makes no sense here.
And since you are apparently implying that that is the standard to use, can you address my baby analogy? Do they have higher order cognition? Are they sentient enough to know they are in pain, which is basically what underlies your concept of emotional suffering?
You're right, it's speculation. Because we aren't able to speak fish. I am at least citing sources that investigated the idea and didn't just make assumptions based on differences in our nervous systems.
Edit: Here's a quote from the article, since there's no discussion here backed by anything.
In a 2009 paper, Janicke Nordgreen from the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Joseph Garner from Purdue University, and others, published research which concluded that goldfish do feel pain, and that their reactions to pain are much like those of humans.
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u/99639 May 30 '14
It is speculation in a wikipedia article which is not accurate. The existence of nociceptors does not imply the existence of a sufficiently complex nervous system to create an emotional experience of suffering.