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Scientists Sign Declaration Proclaiming Fish, Lobsters, Octopi, and Insects Have “Consciousness”

Scientists Sign Declaration Proclaiming Fish, Lobsters, Octopi, and Insects Have “Consciousness”

Meanwhile, the Bezos Earth Fund is giving $60 million toward revamping alternative proteins.

There has recently been an intriguing development in “the Science™.”

Nearly 40 “experts” recently signed “The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness,” presented at a conference at New York University last week.

The declaration says there is “strong scientific support” that birds and mammals have conscious experience, and a “realistic possibility” of consciousness for all vertebrates — including reptiles, amphibians and fish. That possibility extends to many creatures without backbones, it adds, such as insects, decapod crustaceans (including crabs and lobsters) and cephalopod mollusks, like squid, octopus and cuttlefish.

“When there is a realistic possibility of conscious experience in an animal, it is irresponsible to ignore that possibility in decisions affecting that animal,” the declaration says. “We should consider welfare risks and use the evidence to inform our responses to these risks.”

Jonathan Birch, a professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics and a principal investigator on the Foundations of Animal Sentience project, is among the declaration’s signatories. Whereas many scientists in the past assumed that questions about animal consciousness were unanswerable, he said, the declaration shows his field is moving in a new direction.

“This has been a very exciting 10 years for the study of animal minds,” Birch said. “People are daring to go there in a way they didn’t before and to entertain the possibility that animals like bees and octopuses and cuttlefish might have some form of conscious experience.”

A review of the signatories on this declaration indicates most of the expertise is in philosophy, psychology, and environmental studies. The group asserts that a wide array of species, including lobsters, fish, octopi, and insects, can experience elements of consciousness and sentience.

First, there is strong scientific support for attributions of conscious experience to other mammals and to birds.

Second, the empirical evidence indicates at least a realistic possibility of conscious experience in all vertebrates (including reptiles, amphibians, and fishes) and many invertebrates (including, at minimum, cephalopod mollusks, decapod crustaceans, and insects).

Third, when there is a realistic possibility of conscious experience in an animal, it is irresponsible to ignore that possibility in decisions affecting that animal. We should consider welfare risks and use the evidence to inform our responses to these risks.

It is that third element that is most troubling to me: What should these “responses” be? We still haven’t recovered from policies driven by the ludicrous risk assessments conducted by “experts” in response to the COVID pandemic.

Jazz Shaw of Hot Air also has similar concerns.

My only concern with this report is the somewhat ominous way that the researchers mention “implications for U.S. law.” To be clear, I remain very much opposed to animal cruelty and support the enforcement of laws against such terrible behavior. But this declaration mentions the fact that the United States “does not classify animals as sentient on a federal level.”

Once you start declaring every animal to be “sentient,” does that mean that they are all entitled to the same types of rights and protections as people? I ask the question because it’s not hard to imagine some progressives using this declaration as an excuse to declare all of the cattle to be “emancipated” and force everyone to be vegans.

Of course, according to these scientists, you won’t even be able to eat the bugs, either.

I have been following the “lab-grown meat” industry, especially since its rebranding as “cultivated meat.” I find it fascinating that this declaration was issued after The Bezos Earth Fund poured $60 million into revamping alternative proteins as part of its push to make “food more sustainable.”

The Jeff Bezos-backed philanthropic organization will put money into establishing university research centers that will work on improving the taste, texture and nutrition of meat alternatives. The Bezos Centers for Sustainable Protein, to be set up over the next five years, will also focus on bringing down manufacturing costs and finding new ingredients, according to Andy Jarvis, director of Future of Food at the Bezos Earth Fund.

“Alternative proteins are an imperative if we are to stay within planetary boundaries, if we are to feed 10 billion people within those boundaries,” Jarvis said in a video interview. “We’re investing in alternative proteins because they need to be successful.”

From plant-based burgers to cultivated meat and protein grown in fermentation tanks, alternative proteins have been singled out as a way to help shift diets away from livestock, a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions. But they have struggled to win over consumers due to a lack of flavor, high prices and concerns over their nutritional content. Investment has been drying up, while the nascent cellular market has been challenged by scale-up issues and government backlash.

Humans need high quality protein to not only survive, but thrive. I do not wish to see science misused to take away my choice to buy lobster or steak as one of my protein options.

I am a bit worried that “cultured meat” may eventually mandated through regulations…similar to electric vehicles. This may be the first, small step in this process.

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Comments

“Once you start declaring every animal to be “sentient,” does that mean that they are all entitled to the same types of rights and protections as people?”

Of course that would mean you could also indict them for crimes and sue them for torts. Gives “getting your pound of flesh” a whole new meaning.

    Dimsdale in reply to henrybowman. | April 24, 2024 at 7:15 am

    It’s the natural progression to people marrying animals, or assuming they are animals.

    Mark my words…

    TargaGTS in reply to henrybowman. | April 24, 2024 at 7:27 am

    …a whole new delicious meaning.

    Milhouse in reply to henrybowman. | April 24, 2024 at 9:08 am

    Of course that would mean you could also indict them for crimes and sue them for torts

    No, it woudn’t mean that, any more than you can indict or sue small children.

    BigRosieGreenbaum in reply to henrybowman. | April 24, 2024 at 9:57 am

    This was covered in an episode of The Golden Girls. Cow tried to claim Rose and Charlie’s farm; they won the lawsuit and celebrated with a big steak dinner.
    Seeing as doctors recommend eating food that is not processed or processed very little, how will chemically processed fake food pass muster? Sounds horrible and unhealthy. I think those “experts” should just kill themselves for the good of the planet, that way they won’t have to inhabit a planet “in crisis” and they get to reduce the carbon emissions. Big win all around!

    sestamibi in reply to henrybowman. | April 24, 2024 at 6:41 pm

    Not only that, but then do they get to sue each other for violations of their “consciousness” and “rights”?

    Cross examination in court should be hilarious. Especially if the cow has diarrhea.

    Animals are sentient, in they have some mental awareness of what is around them. Even plants can sense if someone is pulling their leaves off or yanking them out of the ground. American Indians always thank the animals they eat. So do traditional Japanese. You should too. Thank the lobster or crab you eat. Thank the steer that gave you that steak.

    The curse of my bovine kind are we are so darn delicious.

If by that they mean that lower animals, have the same relative consciousness as a NY politician, they may have a point.

If it’s IQ, the animals should be in control in NYC.

At least Pres. Trump would get a fair trial, presuming there would even be one if real intelligence was applied.

I don’t care if un polpo (an octopus) can recite ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ while solving Rubik’s Cube. He’s still eventually gonna find his permanent home in my Frutti Mare Fra Diavolo along with all his other seafood pals.

    DaveGinOly in reply to TargaGTS. | April 24, 2024 at 8:33 pm

    I eat cow, pig, sheep, and chicken/duck/turkey (but not all at once, à la John Madden).
    I stopped eating octopus and squid many years ago. If cetaceans and apes were on the menu, I wouldn’t eat them either.

Halcyon Daze | April 24, 2024 at 7:33 am

BS* in, BS* out!

*Beautiful Science

Beef is “cultivated protein”. The artificial stuff comes from literal factories – not factory farms, but chemical processing plants.

I would be willing to discuss the circle of life with them over a lobster dinner.

“Animal-rights publications are illustrated largely with photographs of two kinds of animals – “Helpless Fluff” and “Agonized Fluff,” the two conditions in which some people seem to prefer their animals, because any other version of an animal is too complicated for propaganda.”

Vicki Hearne “What’s Wrong with Animal Rights” the point is their happiness not their suffering.

https://researchwrit.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/article-hearne_whats-wrong-with-animal-rights.pdf

If you haven’t read Vicki Hearne this is a good opportunity to see what a woman can write like if she’s liberated but not interested in feminism.

E Howard Hunt | April 24, 2024 at 8:01 am

If this be true we must equalize treatment by expanding on the Chicago model. That is, we must kill more humans for sport.

I believe “researchers” will discover whatever the people writing the grants want to have discovered.

Fat_Freddys_Cat | April 24, 2024 at 8:15 am

I’m starting to hear whispers–on the fringe I’ll admit, for now anyway–of “species affirming surgery”. I wonder how long it will be before people start declaring their pronouns to be “bzzzt/drone”.

I think they should demand reparations!

Capitalist-Dad | April 24, 2024 at 8:24 am

The only proper response to this sort of blatant idiocy from “scientists” or “experts” is to remind them they are full of excrement.

Ah yes, The Science™ strikes again. I wonder if these “experts” have thought of comparing the potential conscious experience of a bird with that of a human fetus? Maybe we should consider this to “inform our response” to the Democrats’ insatiable need to kill babies.

So what? So do cows, and pigs, and sheep. And other tasty things. Even the cannibals that ate Uncle Joe might find these “scientists” tasty.

    henrybowman in reply to Concise. | April 24, 2024 at 2:20 pm

    All my animals have consciousness (maybe even the algae-cleaning fish in the horse trough). They also have intelligence appropriate to their station. My dogs respond to verbal commands (especially “cookies!”). One figured out how to open sliding glass doors (can’t reach the latch lock, thank goodness). One of my donkeys has learned how to unlatch corral panels, and pull a gate that opens inwards instead of futilely pushing it. He’s also figured out how to trigger my automatic gate’s “car detector” loop, and I’m damned if I know how he does it, despite setting cameras up, so he’s smarter about at least one thing than I am.

    Wait I forgot the chickens. They’re stupid beyond all comprehension. Coincidentally, they’re the only ones we eat.

Those fire ants knew what they were doing with they bit my ankle? Even more reason to treat the lawn.

I guess that makes me a “consciou-vore.”

They stopped short of including congress….

This research is long overdue. I am sick of what windmills are doing to all my friends on land or in the sea.

drednicolson | April 24, 2024 at 9:23 am

Even plants are not just things that passively grow. Some release pheromones that attract predatory insects in response to being eaten on by pests.

A call for help, as it were.

There seems to be a group of idiots who still believe Mr. Ed (an early 1960’s tv show with a talking horse) was real life.

Heaven help us. Please!

Good Gawd….those types of organisms are pre-limbic, and by definition are not capable of emotion. This idiotic tendency to anthropromorphize everything is insane!

This reminds me of those idiot tree huggers back in the 80s who would stand around signing songs in the woods to trees, wanting to “soothe the spirits” of the forest and “Gaia”. They were so benevolent they spiked the trees (as if that would not have “hurt” the tree) and ended up killing and maiming several innocent lumberjacks and laborers. Enviroterrorists are horrible, but pseudo-scientists who reach some bad conclusions based on bad evidence and irreproducible evidence are the worst.

And I agree—that lobster, clam or fish are going to be boiled, steamed or pan-fried, and swimming in butter and lemon!

    henrybowman in reply to drsamherman. | April 24, 2024 at 2:24 pm

    “Enviroterrorists are horrible, but pseudo-scientists who reach some bad conclusions based on bad evidence and irreproducible evidence are the worst.”

    Isn’t that Netflix’s blurb for Three Body Problem?

MartelCharlie3 | April 24, 2024 at 10:53 am

Science now amounts to signing a declaration?

    henrybowman in reply to MartelCharlie3. | April 24, 2024 at 2:26 pm

    That’s when you know it has transmuted into a religion.
    Harvard, MIT: guard your doors against zealots toting nails and declarations.

      diver64 in reply to henrybowman. | April 24, 2024 at 5:26 pm

      Not a Lutheran I see

      CommoChief in reply to henrybowman. | April 25, 2024 at 11:58 am

      On the other hand didn’t Jordan Peterson do a bunch of work with observing lobsters and extrapolate that to form some of his work? Do these boneheads know they are to some degree signing off on the work of Jordan Peterson?

destroycommunism | April 24, 2024 at 11:06 am

then birds that poop on your cars etc must be locked up

Andrzejr2 (właso) | April 24, 2024 at 11:13 am

I wonder what this “science” says about the consciousness and well-being of unborn children?

Ferfuggs eggs | April 24, 2024 at 11:19 am

I would bet all of these scientists would also likely sign a declaration claiming that an 8 month old human fetus is just a lump of cells.

But not human babies. Or is this another case of, “That’s different because shut up!”

If you include something like a “Jonathan Birch, a professor of philosophy” as being an actual scientist, that ship has sailed.

Note that they are also attempting ton conflate the difference between sentience and sapience. Pig-ignorant idiots.

EU leftists have been trying to shut down the agriculture sector across europe. In the future will seaweed become the only permissible source of food?

Pet peeve. Octopi is not the plural of Octopus. You can’t give a Latin plural to a word of Greek origin. The ending of Octopus is not “us” it is “pus” from the Greek for foot.

And of course Octopods are aware of their existence. Why else would God have given them all the ink. It is so they can wax philosophical and write it down for their pupils.

    TargaGTS in reply to JRaeL. | April 24, 2024 at 2:28 pm

    This takes me back to a debate that raged in my 4th-year French class (eons ago) over the French word for octopus…and what its plural is. Interestingly, the Greeks didn’t even use octopus. They used polypous. Both the French and Italian words for ‘octopus’ (poulpe, polpo, respectively) are more clearly rooted in the Greek. I’m not sure how or when English-speakers came to prefer the ‘octo’ prefix (another Greek prefix) over the ‘poly’ prefix. But, I’m guessing it has to do with the Germanic influence in English.

    Toad-O in reply to JRaeL. | April 25, 2024 at 12:12 pm

    I believe the correct term is “octopodes”.

What percentage of the signatories swat mosquitos, I wonder?

How nice says me as I toss a couple of ribeye steaks on the grill.

I asked my cat about his consciousness and he said phluck you hooman, give me my meat or I’ll kill everything in the year I can.
Then he went back to sleep.

healthguyfsu | April 24, 2024 at 9:19 pm

A fetus with a fully closed neural tube and EEG activity in the 6-9 week range has a much more “realistic possibility of conscious experience” than a lobster, insect, or fish will have in their entire lives.

I will say that cephalopods are a bit exceptional in this category as they are the apex of invertebrate intelligence. That said, we use primates in research and euthanize them afterwards. Go after that with your appeal to authority and assumption of ethical superiority before you go after my dinner plate thanks.

You put the wrong word in scare quotes in that headline, they belong around “scientists”.

Clearly, some people are not comfortable being on top of the food chain. Way too much time on their hands. Excess grant money may be a strong factor.

Next they’ll be telling us that Democrats have consciousness.

Well then, we need to outlaw bird chopping windmills. And all those large scale solar plants hurt animals too. We need,safe nuclear/nat gas/ coal plants.