I'd draw this bright line if you will even more strongly than language.
Conversely, if they acquire information individually they have to assume that others probably don't have the same information. The concept is that the individual understands that information they have is not necessarily the same information that other individuals have and others may have different/more info. Teasing this out might require better communication methods than we have now, but we should be able to test for this type of understanding of the world.ģ) Theory of Mind This is probably the most critical and one so far every animal tested fails miserably. Sign language in apes is probably the best example and this would probably pass by itself, except.Ģ) Theory of time and general/novel experience: We need to test for a concept of memory (do-able) some concept of past experience (probably do-able) and expectations about the future based on past experience. That would allow testing for potential even if a specific adult individual might not test well due to diminished capacity.ġ) Communication: Most animals have some observable communication, but we have to be able to pass simple concepts back and forth. tool use.) The problem is then teasing out something testable and ideally fairly clear-cut.Īll of this presupposes that we might need to start with a juvenile to socialize/train that individual early. There are a lot of tests, but most of them come down to a qualified answer of how much like us they are on some continuum (e.g. Note that I consider Little Fuzzy and the rest of the books in the series to be "must-read" material for science fiction fans, and the "reboot" by John Scalzi, Fuzzy Nation, is a pretty interesting story as well, although it doesn't actually delve into the sapience question anywhere near as deeply as Piper did. But the key signifier, and the one typically used as a "bright line" demarcation between sapient beings and smart animals was language - whether the creature/species had a coherent language of its own (as compared to Earthly chimpanzees and apes, who have learned to express themselves through ASL to a limited degree). He suggested that there were several signifiers that could be looked at - tool use is one, generalization is another (he points out that to a cat, a situation is exactly like one it's experienced before, or it's totally novel - they don't really apply old knowledge to new and novel circumstances). Beam Piper had a book in the early 1960's called Little Fuzzy that approaches this topic. Or you could shoot it, though that won't do the cage much good. Drowning sounds bad but if you very suddenly and fully submerge the cage they won't have much air in their lungs and thus will lose consciousness pretty quickly. If you can't catch them with snap traps your best bet is one of those wire cage traps and then, depending on whether you want to wrestle with the rat and risk it escaping, snap its snap neck, cave its head in or drown it. That rat is going to be straight back in your ceiling, it's not like it's going to forget where you live. On the other hand, the human capacity for self-delusion and for inflicting violence upon themselves and other life-forms is highly illogical, but ensures these practices will continue. All the more reason to create non sentient biological alternatives that do not depend on inflicting suffering on an innocent sentient creature. After all, slavery is alive and well in the world, and there are plenty of ethnic, religious, minority, and economically maligned groups that are treated inhumanly.įor this reason, animal testing is clearly the most inhuman and degrading treatment of all our fellow Earthly creatures you can get. So, perhaps what we consider human, is really a reflection about ourselves, our collective evolving notion of humanity.
Besides, my human sensibilities came to the fore, I simply didn't want the death of an innocent creature just going about its life on my conscience. The alternative to my rather haphazard and risky rat rescue operation was to purchase a standard glue trap or baited poison.both of which can be considered a form of inhumane treatment. Now, I fully realize this little creature could have been carrying the bubonic plaque, or perhaps even the hantavirus, but that doesn't mean it didn't deserve the same chance at life we all get. It was a catch an release operation, after much trial and error I set it free outside my door, watched it hopping down the stairs to freedom. For example, last night I jury rigged a rat trap out of an old box and coaxed a roof rat that had taken up residence above my dining room ceiling in my apartment. I'm generally of the live and let live type.