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Précis Of The Edge Of Sentience: Risk And Precaution In Humans, Other Animals, And Ai, Jonathan Birch Jan 2025

Précis Of The Edge Of Sentience: Risk And Precaution In Humans, Other Animals, And Ai, Jonathan Birch

Animal Sentience

We often face grave practical decisions that seem to hinge on whether a system is sentient. This family of cases includes invertebrate animals, people who are unresponsive after brain injury, fetuses, neural organoids, and now AI technologies. We must decide what to do despite ongoing disagreement about the nature of sentience. In our state of uncertainty, we should pragmatically transform the question from “Is it sentient?” to “Is it a sentience candidate, an investigation priority, or neither?”. When a system is a sentience candidate, it is negligent to fail to consider precautions. We should instead evaluate precautions for their proportionality …


Griffin's Slow Burn Revolution In Philosophy And Comparative Cognition, Kristin Andrews Dec 2024

Griffin's Slow Burn Revolution In Philosophy And Comparative Cognition, Kristin Andrews

Animal Sentience

Ristau presents Griffin as launching a scientific revolution supported by philosophical insights. This commentary focuses on two points: Griffin as a scientific revolutionary, although the cognitive ethology revolution is not yet complete; and on the immense influence Griffin had, and continues to have, on philosophy.


What Is It Like To Be A Diplomat? Reflections On Donald Griffin And Emotion, Oliver H. Turnbull Dec 2024

What Is It Like To Be A Diplomat? Reflections On Donald Griffin And Emotion, Oliver H. Turnbull

Animal Sentience

This commentary addresses three aspects of Donald Griffin’s work: (1) his thoughts beyond cognition, on emotion; (2) his views on the earliest origins of mind, including primitive forms of consciousness; and (3) his diplomatic use of memorable phrases to facilitate change.


What Is It Like To Be A Cognitive Ethologist?, Anne Wordsworth She/Her Dec 2024

What Is It Like To Be A Cognitive Ethologist?, Anne Wordsworth She/Her

Animal Sentience

Donald Griffin not only made the study of animal minds acceptable for scientific investigation but the work of the cognitive ethologists that he inspired made animals and their lives fascinating and accessible to the greater public. The scrupulously detailed examination of his life and work by Ristau ensures that this history will always be there to respect his work and his legacy


Can Animal Consciousness Be Resolved Scientifically?, Yoram Gutfreund Dec 2024

Can Animal Consciousness Be Resolved Scientifically?, Yoram Gutfreund

Animal Sentience

Carolyn Ristau's biography of Donald Griffin is a comprehensive work that sheds light on a seminal chapter in the history of ethology—the ambitious attempt to establish a research field dedicated to animal consciousness. Although Donald Griffin's endeavor ultimately fell short of its revolutionary goals, it catalyzed significant progress in understanding evolution and mechanisms of animal cognition.


Beyond Human Perception: The Remarkable Science Of Donald R. Griffin, Gareth Jones Dec 2024

Beyond Human Perception: The Remarkable Science Of Donald R. Griffin, Gareth Jones

Animal Sentience

Carolyn Ristau shows how Donald Griffin’s revolutionary science sometimes progressed from ridicule, to opposition, to being self-evident. Griffin’s work involved phenomena beyond human perception, making it sometimes difficult for others to fathom. His work on ultrasonic echolocation, navigation and animal cognition has shifted established paradigms. His ‘zoomorphic’ approach provides a realistic framework for understanding how other animals perceive the world.


Https://Faunalytics.Org/What-Vegan-Advocates-Can-Learn-From-The-Social-Spread-Of-Quitting-Smoking/, A. Polanco, J. Anderson, D. Nguyen, J. Winslow, A. Couture Dec 2024

Https://Faunalytics.Org/What-Vegan-Advocates-Can-Learn-From-The-Social-Spread-Of-Quitting-Smoking/, A. Polanco, J. Anderson, D. Nguyen, J. Winslow, A. Couture

Veg*n advocacy

Anyone who has been vegan for a while has likely seen how their diet and lifestyle can influence or spread to those around them. Yet if each vegan was able to create two new vegans, we would have likely seen more significant shifts in the rates of veganism (Our World In Data, 2022) in recent decades. This illustrates the difficulties of understanding social contagion—the process of information (including attitudes or behaviors) spreading throughout a group—especially in relation to veganism. By understanding social contagion better, advocates can improve their diet change outreach, possibly by mastering the art of “vegan contagion.” The …


What Vegan Advocates Can Learn From The Social Spread Of Quitting Smoking, Andrea Polanco, J. Anderson, D. Nguyen, J. Winslow, A. Couture Dec 2024

What Vegan Advocates Can Learn From The Social Spread Of Quitting Smoking, Andrea Polanco, J. Anderson, D. Nguyen, J. Winslow, A. Couture

Diet

Anyone who has been vegan for a while has likely seen how their diet and lifestyle can influence or spread to those around them. Yet if each vegan was able to create two new vegans, we would have likely seen more significant shifts in the rates of veganism (Our World In Data, 2022) in recent decades. This illustrates the difficulties of understanding social contagion—the process of information (including attitudes or behaviors) spreading throughout a group—especially in relation to veganism. By understanding social contagion better, advocates can improve their diet change outreach, possibly by mastering the art of “vegan contagion.” The …


Social Learning And Cultural Enrichment For Fish Welfare, Chiawen Chiang, Becca Franks Dec 2024

Social Learning And Cultural Enrichment For Fish Welfare, Chiawen Chiang, Becca Franks

Animal Sentience

This commentary examines how understanding animal culture—shared behaviors and knowledge transmitted through social learning—plays a role in advancing welfare practices for captive fishes. Despite extensive evidence of fishes' complex sociocultural capacities, their psycho-social needs remain underestimated and unmet in zoos and aquaria. We explore what considering fish culture might mean for welfare practices: diverse social learning opportunities, cultural development, and thoughtful group management. More knowledge about wild fishes' lives will help bridge the gap between their full, complex lives and current captive welfare practices.


Animals In Conflict – Part Ii: Animal Protection Organizations; Conflict And Disaster Response Work, Janice Cox, Jackson Zee Dec 2024

Animals In Conflict – Part Ii: Animal Protection Organizations; Conflict And Disaster Response Work, Janice Cox, Jackson Zee

WellBeing News

Animals were commonly overlooked in disaster responses in the 20th century but that is changing in the 21st.


Donald Griffin: A Visionary In Science And Consciousness, Brock Fenton Dec 2024

Donald Griffin: A Visionary In Science And Consciousness, Brock Fenton

Animal Sentience

I share some reflections on a sabbatical with Donald Griffin a half-century ago, with fieldwork on bats and echolocating swiftlets in Australia and our discussions of animal behavior and consciousness. Griffin's influence has been vast, from recent advances in bat research, including learning, navigation, and longevity, to his enduring legacy as a pioneer in animal cognition.


Cognitive Ethology, Animals And Society, And The American Sociological Association, Arnold Arluke Nov 2024

Cognitive Ethology, Animals And Society, And The American Sociological Association, Arnold Arluke

Animal Sentience

Griffin’s The Question of Animal Awareness (1976) and Animal Minds (2001) enabled and emboldened other disciplines to expand their research to include non-human animals. The creation of a dedicated section on human-animal relationships in sociology’s national professional organization is but one example.


Why Is Fish Welfare Still So Neglected?, Caroline M. Maia Nov 2024

Why Is Fish Welfare Still So Neglected?, Caroline M. Maia

Animal Sentience

Oldfield & Bonano (O&B) address an important problem in the field of fish welfare, one that calls for greater attention from scientists and practitioners. O&B show that fish welfare, particularly at the psychological level, is under-investigated. They focus mainly on zoos and aquaria, but their concerns extend also to other domains, including fish farming. Fish are sentient animals; priority should be given to their welfare in all environments where they are under human care.


Objective Bat Phenomenology, Thomas Nagel Nov 2024

Objective Bat Phenomenology, Thomas Nagel

Animal Sentience

Our discussions prompted Donald Griffin to campaign for the recognition of animal consciousness as a subject for scientific investigation. Ristau shows how much has since been discovered about the experiences of bats and other creatures, by Griffin and others, in spite of the limits to full knowledge imposed by our biological differences. But Ristau seriously misrepresents me as holding that we can know nothing about what it is like to be a bat, whereas these results are precisely of the kind I envisioned in proposing an “objective phenomenology.”


To Be Conscious Or Not To Be, Bjørn Grinde Nov 2024

To Be Conscious Or Not To Be, Bjørn Grinde

Animal Sentience

Carolyn Ristau has done a fine job summarizing the work and life of the zoologist Donald Griffin. Most scientists now accept the existence of animal sentience, but identifying which species possess consciousness remains controversial. Griffin defined consciousness as "the subjective state of feeling or thinking about objects and events.” Nonconscious processes are faster and more energy-efficient, however, and often drive behavior. Consciousness probably evolved for complex decision-making, shaped by evolutionary continuity, with feelings as a common currency for evaluating outcomes. Its survival advantage may be limited, and its presence across species varies depending on evolutionary trajectories.


Bird Flu Infections In U.S. Dairy Herds Raise Human Health Concerns As Cases Rise, Andrew N. Rowan Nov 2024

Bird Flu Infections In U.S. Dairy Herds Raise Human Health Concerns As Cases Rise, Andrew N. Rowan

WellBeing News

A recent CDC study highlights human bird flu infections among U.S. dairy workers, signaling broader transmission risks. With outbreaks across 15 states, experts warn that the bird flu virus, H5N1, could evolve, increasing potential human-to-human transmission risks.


Animals In Conflict – Part 1: Conscripts And Victims, Janice H. Cox Mba, Jackson Zee Nov 2024

Animals In Conflict – Part 1: Conscripts And Victims, Janice H. Cox Mba, Jackson Zee

WellBeing News

Animals are often overlooked victims in war, suffering abuse, injury, and death alongside human combatants. Explore the roles animals have played in warfare, the impact on wildlife and companion animals, and the urgent need for better protections for these vulnerable populations.


Tackling Climate Change Through Global Food Systems At Cop29 In Baku, Andrew N. Rowan Nov 2024

Tackling Climate Change Through Global Food Systems At Cop29 In Baku, Andrew N. Rowan

WellBeing News

At COP29 in Baku, leaders spotlight food systems as a climate solution. With new insights from the World Bank, discussions focus on reducing emissions, conserving biodiversity, and driving sustainable agriculture.


What Do Echolocating Bats Perceive?, James A. Simmons Nov 2024

What Do Echolocating Bats Perceive?, James A. Simmons

Animal Sentience

Donald Griffin, who discovered that bats use echolocation to orient in the dark, also reintroduced to scientific consideration the question of whether animals are consciously aware of their worlds. What bats perceive by echolocation has become an important variant of the question. Bats sense the surrounding scene but use intrinsically auditory representations in which the timing of neural responses to their broadcasts and echoes directly affects what they perceive. They do not seem to transpose pulses and echoes entirely into vision-like spatial neural displays, but instead retain the timing of responses as a cause of perception.


Communication In Noise Is The Window On Cognition, R. Haven Wiley Nov 2024

Communication In Noise Is The Window On Cognition, R. Haven Wiley

Animal Sentience

As Griffin surmised, communication is the window on cognition, but as shown here, only if it is noisy. This commentary is an invitation to consider the full implications of the evolution of noisy communication. A combination of Information Theory, Signal Detection Theory, and Natural Selection, in a unified theory of the evolution of communication, reveals that noise is inevitable. All organisms are thus decision makers. Perception, thought, freedom of decision, self-awareness, metabolism, and natural selection all share the consequences of signals in noise. A full understanding of each requires attention to the errors of receivers. Griffin’s hunch is correct with …


Attempting To Answer The Question Of Animal Awareness, Alexandra Horowitz Nov 2024

Attempting To Answer The Question Of Animal Awareness, Alexandra Horowitz

Animal Sentience

It was as a graduate student that I first encountered the work of both Donald Griffin and Carolyn Ristau. Griffin's The Question of Animal Awareness (1976) and Animal Minds (2001) helped a budding animal-minds researcher appreciate both the possibilities of studying non-human animal consciousness and the struggle that such an undertaking would face. Now Ristau's (2024a,b) timely biography helps explain how Griffin became the figure in animal cognition that he is.


Understanding The Welfare Of Aquarium Fish, Paul Rose Nov 2024

Understanding The Welfare Of Aquarium Fish, Paul Rose

Animal Sentience

Bony fishes (Osteichthyes) are prevalent in public and domestic aquaria, yet evidence-based welfare practices exist for only a limited number of species. Oldfield & Bonano’s (O&B’s) target article highlights critical questions about the wellbeing and sociality of Osteichthyes. Advancing research on their biology, physiology, psychology, and behavior is essential to develop and validate welfare measures, ensuring guidelines for welfare-focused housing and husbandry.


Donald Griffin, Sentience, And Animal Research Ethics, John Gluck Nov 2024

Donald Griffin, Sentience, And Animal Research Ethics, John Gluck

Animal Sentience

Recollection of early encounters with Donald Griffin’s pioneering work on animal awareness, provoking intense, often hostile academic responses, later forgotten.


Can We Use Judgement Bias To Assess The Welfare Of Fish In Aquariums And Zoos?, Culum Brown Oct 2024

Can We Use Judgement Bias To Assess The Welfare Of Fish In Aquariums And Zoos?, Culum Brown

Animal Sentience

This commentary examines the potential of tests of judgment bias to assess fish welfare in aquariums and zoos. Judgment bias offers a non-invasive approach to interpreting affective states in animals, using cognitive responses to ambiguous stimuli as indicators of mental wellbeing. Despite the constraints of captive environments—such as limited handling and species diversity in exhibits—recent adaptations of judgment-bias protocols make them suitable across taxa, including fishes. Collaborations with progressive zoos and aquariums could facilitate this research, based on the shared goal of enhancing animal welfare and promoting public education.


Précis Of: "Birds, Bats And Minds: Tales Of A Revolutionary Scientist, Donald R. Griffin", Carolyn A. Ristau Oct 2024

Précis Of: "Birds, Bats And Minds: Tales Of A Revolutionary Scientist, Donald R. Griffin", Carolyn A. Ristau

Animal Sentience

Donald Griffin co-discovered bat sonar and founded the field of echolocation. He studied bird migration and founded Cognitive Ethology, the study of animal awareness and mental experiences. In all these endeavors, he faced hostile opposition. The biography (Ristau 2024) examines Griffin's life and the scientific explorations by him and others in these fields. This Précis emphasizes his arguments and supporting evidence for animal consciousness as well as his later research. Griffin considered the inhibiting assumptions made by scientists, including Cartesian views, the misunderstanding of innate behaviors, prejudice against lower animals, concern with violations of parsimony, and the assertions of the …


Psychological And Social Well-Being Of Bony Fishes In Zoos And Aquariums, Ronald G. Oldfield, Patrick Bonano Oct 2024

Psychological And Social Well-Being Of Bony Fishes In Zoos And Aquariums, Ronald G. Oldfield, Patrick Bonano

Animal Sentience

Research on the behaviour of animals in zoos has been conducted for decades, and observations have provided information that has improved the psychological and social well-being of animals. However, research on fishes in zoos and aquariums seems to be lacking. Here, we assess the current state of research on fishes in zoos and aquariums by surveying the peer-reviewed literature. Our assessment differs from previous surveys in that we examine the taxonomic classes Chondrichthyes (sharks and rays) and Osteichthyes (bony fishes) separately. Our survey finds that bony fishes have been drastically underrepresented in zoo journals, more drastically than chondrichthyans, revealing an …


"Gregory Berns’ Journey: Uncovering The Emotional Lives Of Cows And Other Animals", Leslie Barcus, Steven Hansch Sep 2024

"Gregory Berns’ Journey: Uncovering The Emotional Lives Of Cows And Other Animals", Leslie Barcus, Steven Hansch

Tales of WellBeing

Explore Gregory Berns’ heartwarming journey from neuroscientist to farmer, where he uncovers the emotional intelligence of cows, drawing parallels to dogs and advocating for kinder treatment of animals in his new book.


Celebrating The Adventures Of Owney And Boji: How Two Famous Dogs Captured Hearts Across Generations, Kathleen Rowan, Andrew Rowan Sep 2024

Celebrating The Adventures Of Owney And Boji: How Two Famous Dogs Captured Hearts Across Generations, Kathleen Rowan, Andrew Rowan

Tales of WellBeing

Follow the incredible journeys of Owney, the 19th-century mail train rider, and Boji, Istanbul’s modern-day commuter dog. Learn how these remarkable dogs inspired love, loyalty, and fascination in people across the world, even from a distance.


Turkey’S New Law On Homeless Dogs: Controversial Measures And Capacity Challenges, Andrew N. Rowan, Kathleen Rowan Sep 2024

Turkey’S New Law On Homeless Dogs: Controversial Measures And Capacity Challenges, Andrew N. Rowan, Kathleen Rowan

WellBeing News

Turkey's 2024 law mandates removing homeless dogs from streets and placing them in shelters, sparking debate due to a lack of infrastructure and concerns over animal welfare.


Vultures In India & Bats In Usa: Impact On Animal Welfare & Human Health, Andrew N. Rowan Sep 2024

Vultures In India & Bats In Usa: Impact On Animal Welfare & Human Health, Andrew N. Rowan

WellBeing News

Discover how declining vultures in India and bats in the USA impact human health, ecosystems, and the economy, revealing crucial wildlife-environment links.