Categoría: Sentience in Humans
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An empirical investigation of hedonistic accounts of animal welfare
«Many scientists studying animal welfare appear to hold a hedonistic concept of welfare -whereby welfare is ultimately reducible to an animal’s subjective experience. […] analysis showed welfare judgments depended on the objective features of the animal’s life more than they did on how the animal was feeling: a chimpanzee living a natural life with negative…
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The Challenge of Determining Whether an A.I. Is Sentient, by Carissa Véliz
«…sentience may go unnoticed for years, as was the case with Martin Pistorious [1] … Because brain death can be misdiagnosed [2], and because we have little understanding of the necessary and sufficient causes for consciousness and therefore cannot be certain of when someone might be in pain, some experts have called for the use…
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Conversations about the badness of involuntary suffering
I have the intuition that voluntary suffering might not be bad. This is primarily due to personal experience: I often feel sad (sympathy) when I encounter sad stories or sad situations, but I don’t have the intuition that this is bad for me, because I don’t feel like I ought to look away or stop…
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On Transhumanism and Philosophy by Phil Torres
We have a pretty good sense of how digestion works. And our grasp of thermodynamics is excellent. We know that there are three bones – the smallest in our bodies – in the middle ear, and that stars produce light because of thermonuclear fusion. While I’m skeptical of “progressionist” claims that the human condition has…
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Mutations in sodium-channel gene SCN9A cause a spectrum of human genetic pain disorders
Individuals with congenital indifference to pain have painless injuries beginning in infancy but otherwise normal sensory responses upon examination. Perception of passive movement, joint position, and vibration is normal, as are tactile thresholds and light touch perception. There is intact ability to distinguish between sharp and dull stimuli and to detect differences in temperature. The…
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Synesthesia as unusual sense, by Craig Weinberg
«The fact of synesthesia (the experience of multiple and unusual sense modalities associated with events that are commonly experienced with one sense modality) shows that there need not be any connection between physical conditions and consciousness. Someone might play a piano and see musical notes at the same time, and that would be a form…
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In every country people think that others are less happy than they themselves say
In every country people think that others are less happy than they themselves say. In every single country, the average estimate of happiness is far lower than actual reported happiness. Every single country!… Read more
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Researchers discover technique to alter a patient’s DNA that could cut chronic agony for sufferers
Scientists have discovered how to switch off a key ‘pain gene’, dramatically raising hopes of a long-term treatment to relieve the agony of serious illness for millions. The revolutionary technique alters a patient’s DNA, silencing a gene that transmits pain signals up the spine. Preliminary studies on mice have already proven successful and US researchers…
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The emotional need of a «scenario completion» and the difference between a cook and a chef
The need of a «scenario completion» «Fascinating concept that I came across in military/police psychology dealing with the unique challenges people face in situations of extreme stress/danger: scenario completion. Take the normal pattern completion that people do and put fear blinders on them so they only perceive one possible outcome and they mechanically go through…
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List of Animals That Have Passed the Mirror Test
When conducting the mirror test, scientists place a visual marking on an animal’s body, usually with scentless paints, dyes, or stickers. They then observe what happens when the marked animal is placed in front of a mirror. The researchers compare the animal’s reaction to other times when the animal saw itself in the mirror without…