I was most surprised by the parameters in which we define sentience, or rather the ability to use our experience of the past to build the future. With the example of corvids, their ability to alter practices based on their experience of change and control by scientists does not seem too unexpected; granted crows and ravens are smart creatures, but does that mean they think? If making our decisions in real-time while thinking of the past indicates sentience, then we should consider animals that dodge projectiles. This consideration seems to be challenged by the instinctive/reactionary aspects of the animal's biology rather than consciousness. I then think of animals that have learned to migrate by changing seasons; does the sentience of monarch butterflies change when their migration is reasoned by their knowledge of a coming winter more so than evolutionary practice? Clearly, a spectrum of using the past based on our instinct is developed, causing me to rethink our own sentience. Maybe we have only evolved so far as to be constantly predicting; this is harmonious with our evolutionary history and the need for us to survive as "man in a world of beasts." We are not conscious--we simply guess WAY more. Indeed, is it not the accuracy of what anyone says that would cause us to consider them smart, or at least value their opinion so much so that they are considered such?
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