Interesting Article on Insect Consciousness

"The upshot of all this, thinks Menzel, is that bees themselves possess some form of consciousness. It’s not a human consciousness, obviously, but certain features are likely to be common: a sense of awareness and intent, an ‘inner doing’. And if it sounds like maybe someone’s spent too much time with bees, it’s also the belief of Christof Koch, the chief scientific officer at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle and one of the world’s foremost investigators into the neural basis of consciousness. To Koch, consciousness is a function of neurological complexity, which bees and many other insects clearly have in abundance."

http://www.aeonmagazine.com/nature-a...consciousness/



I used to think insect consciousness was a joke. Not I'm not so sure. I even saw a Realclearscience article on panpsychism!



"What Koch proposes is a scientifically refined version of an ancient philosophical doctrine called panpsychism — and, coming from someone else, it might sound more like spirituality than science. But Koch has devoted the last three decades to studying the neurological basis of consciousness. His work at the Allen Institute now puts him at the forefront of the BRAIN Initiative, the massive new effort to understand how brains work, which will begin next year."

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...ciousness/all/



What's going on in consciousness research?

via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269042&goto=newpost