Can you prove an insect isn't sentient?
The computer can be programmed to make use of data, in a way, but really it is the user who makes use of the whole thing.
Fucking hell the English language gets in the way of articulating these ideas. Users using and making use of useful uses.
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brb homonecrobatrachophile, Fri 31 Jul 2020, 18:18,
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'Proof' itself is often a slippery word.
Actual proof is only available in mathematics, everything else is supportive evidence.
Isn't the insect effectively programmed at the DNR level by the position of proteins and then further coding?
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FeralCatMan Unusual disease collector., Fri 31 Jul 2020, 20:00,
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But isn't the human effectively programmed in the same way?
(Assuming you mean DNA).
I think there's a spectrum of sentience; that an ant has enough self awareness to be a good ant, communicates with other ants using language (made from pheromones\hormones rather than words), has a concept of time and space, mortality, things and their kinds, understands tool use, understands agriculture (their fungus farms), and even has individual creativity (e.g. no two ant hills are quite the same, each individual chooses which materials to use and where to put each building block).
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brb homonecrobatrachophile, Fri 31 Jul 2020, 21:16,
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No, like everything in our simulation
they are simply programmed by the scientist
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Fadgebadger (1 like), Fri 31 Jul 2020, 22:07,
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