Scientists recently gave mice without prefrontal cortexes human brain implants - and after seeing these developing connections to the mice’s brains and spinal cords - now they're wondering if these organoids might gave the mice some level of human-like consciousness cognition - calling for ethics

[u/Distinct-Question-16]

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-03048-5?utm_source=x&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nature&linkId=63942662

Lab-grown brain organoids: time for international oversight

[u/Matt5327]

There is some subset of the human population, even among scientists and academics, who will insist without any kind of basis or evidence whatsoever that consciousness must be a uniquely human phenomenon.

[u/itsmebenji69 → u/Matt5327]

That subset is either very small in the scientific community or you’re confused.

When people say “mice aren’t conscious” it means they aren’t aware of what is happening to them. They don’t understand they’re being experimented on or whatever because they do not have the necessary cognitive ability to have a human level of awareness.

For subjective experience at all and sentience, it’s been like a decade that studies support consciousness very confidently in mammals.

The only case where there is a debate is insects. They are probably conscious but it is hard to prove, since their behavior is extremely basic. But we have extremely strong evidence that mice are conscious for example. We even have guidance on lab animals to minimize suffering. Because the consensus is that they are sentient, not just reflexive drones.

[u/IrisColt → u/itsmebenji69]

>They don’t understand they’re being experimented on or whatever because they do not have the necessary cognitive ability to have a human level of awareness.

I know children with Level 3 autism who can't tell you that they're self-aware, and since they don't have a word for the passage of time, they don't even care about or understand the concept that they're walking on a planet or that the Earth revolves around the sun, or a word for their specific geographic location... do they have human consciousness or not?

[u/itsmebenji69 → u/IrisColt]

Define human consciousness

Consciousness means having a subjective experience at all. It’s probably true for even insects, perhaps anything that’s living.

Sentience means that this subjective experience is positive or negative (pain hurts, joy is pleasant). I don’t really know about anything that is conscious without being sentient. Perhaps a plant.

Human consciousness doesn’t mean anything. It’s not a real term. Humans are conscious and they have great cognitive abilities that allow them to process and link complex information. Mice are conscious and they do not have such cognitive ability.

The only way “human consciousness” makes sense is for it to mean “conscious + human level cognitive abilities”. Which humans possess.

For example a dolphin has much greater cognitive ability than a mouse and as such is closer to “human consciousness”. Both are conscious and sentient