Philosophical Vegan Forum

http://www.sciencealert.com/insects-are ... -new-study

So....i think i did the right thing not killing insects.

This article is better:
http://news.discovery.com/animals/insects/insects-have-consciousness-self-awareness-and-egos-160418.htm#

Consciousness is an ill defined term, and I prefer not to use it, but research like this may help change that if we start to define consciousness as environmental modeling.
I prefer to talk about sentience, and having interests: which insects do not necessarily have just because they model the environment.

Computer "AI" is a good field to explore to understand the difference.
A computer can be programmed to map the environment, and to allocate more sensory and processing resources to things that move, or that are near-by. However, that does not mean that it learns or that it has interests: for that to be true, we have to look at behavioral responses.

Does a bug has interest in its behaviour to survive ? I watch them closely...they stink of fear...and i really understand why, this was a main reason not to kill or hurt them.

I did made friends with some green bugs we have here (known for the smell they release when confronting menace) and had no problems...the bug came to me and i did comforted it several times...my wife thought that i lost my mind...i could only assume how others would laugh at me for this simple action.

Unknownfromheaven wrote:Does a bug has interest in its behaviour to survive ?

It depends. Larger insects do. Very small ones probably do not have enough nerve cells to be intelligent, so do not strictly have interests. The size cut off, however, is not clear.