Cats and consciousness

[green_amber]

Someone suggested I upfront this comment as a post so here we go:

Oddly, consciousness is the other thing I was noodling about at the weekend. My cats are so obviously conscious, and in really quite subtle ways I never imagined before I lived with animals. They are disappointed, happy, enticing, vain, frustrated, envious and irritated. Yet they have brains like peas no? How stupid do you have to get before consciousness vanishes? Do bees have consciousness? Do goldfish? Do rats? Do all human beings who are not in comas? Do babies, and if so from what age? Is having consciousness the same as thinking? (DO babies think? They dream don't they - is that the same either? My cats dream.)

And where consciousness exists continues to mystify me. Anyone who's studied the Turing test realises that intelligence as an externally observed factor is not the same as intentionality. WE can simulate intelligence but we can't simulate consciousness. Does this indicate there is some kind of mind/brain dualism actually going on?

Comments

[del-c.livejournal.com]

None of the adjectives you used to describe your cats' emotions suggest 'consciousness' to me, but Buzz does something I can't help but think of as conscious: he cares what I think about him. He wants to know if he's been bad, and if I still like him. He worries about it a lot, and often pesters me for reassurance. That tells me he not only has in his mind a model of my mind, he has a model of my mind having a model of his mind. That says 'consciousness' to me.

On the other hand, Rocky has none of that. That could just be Rocky being a self-centred little bastard, however.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

I thought "envious" and "irritated" both indicated a mental map of what they could have and don't - abstract imagination. And "vain" suggests wanting my adoration which suggets a feeling of deserving it. I think we're in the same ball park of observing interactive mental states.