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this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2024
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Biodiversity
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Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem. Biodiversity refers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence. However, only around 1.2 million species have been identified and described so far, most of which are insects. This means that millions of other organisms remain a complete mystery.
Over generations, all of the species that are currently alive today have evolved unique traits that make them distinct from other species. These differences are what scientists use to tell one species from another. Organisms that have evolved to be so different from one another that they can no longer reproduce with each other are considered different species. All organisms that can reproduce with each other fall into one species. Read more...
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The definition of sentience is really low, it's basically the ability to have sensations and react. The most basic organisms can be argued to have that. The definition is not what I used for most of my life, which is higher intelligence.
That technically is the definition of sentience, basically consciousness with the ability to react and have awareness of your surroundings. I think the word your looking for is sapience, which is the ability to contemplate and act productively using knowledge and reasoning
I think jumping spiders fit into the sapience category then. They're known to learn different prey types and change their hunting strategies accordingly, even learning typical behaviour and being able to pick out sick/injured insects and figuring out they don't need to go full stealth.
They've even been observed to enter REM like dreaming states, where it's assumed they process a lot of the visual information they picked up throughout the day.
So basically every animal higher than the jumping spider might fit into the sapience category, which is kinda wild to think about
Jumping spiders also seem to be genuinely curious about things. Anytime I want to take a photo of one, it stops, looks at the camera, jumps on it to check it out, and then leaves. Kinda like I'd take a look at a new product on display on a supermarket shelf
Oh great, even more reason for me to be terrified of spiders
Jumping spiders are little dears, all of them are harmless to people and don't spin webs. Very polite guys
Naw you're fine. If you give it a chance you can even learn to find them cute.
Reeeeaaaaally doubt it
Look at it, it's cuts as hell. (I'll hide it behind a spoiler tag. A phobia is a phobia, after all)
spoiler
...Oh no that is a cute spood.
Well that's the word we should use when discussing animal intelligence then.
It is. We say sapience when discussing intelligence, and sentience when discussing consciousness.
Yeah, the word they're looking for is Sapient. Which is pretty surprising considering it's their word.
Higher intelligence is sapience. Whereas sentience means having a perspective and being aware.
E: oops someone beat me to it
sentience
noun
3.The quality or state of being sentient; esp., the quality or state of having sensation.
I think it is irresponsible wether these creatures are sentient or not. We never know when we'll cut enough threads to make an ecosystem come undone.
So a child isn't sentient in your opinion? I've always understood sentience as the ability to have experiences, memories, and emotion (which is different from the paper's definition, that was my layman definition).