Comments by "TheDionysianFields" (@TheDionysianFields) on "The Believing Brain: Evolution, Neuroscience, and the Spiritual Instinct" video.

  1. We DO have a corner on the market of consciousness in that we're the only animal that's "aware that it's aware." And this trait/capacity being almost certainly essential to religious thought.
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  2.  @uninspired3583  When they start writing philosophy or dwelling on past transgressions, I'll believe you.
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  3.  @uninspired3583  Of course they have self-awareness, they're just not aware that they're self-aware. “Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.” -Mark Twain
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  4.  @uninspired3583  Careful observations.
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  5.  @uninspired3583  All I've said here is that animals have awareness but humans have awareness that they have awareness, which is what enables true suffering. In this regard, I stand by my words and assert that my observations do in fact support them. My cat is in severe distress one minute and playing happily the next. This is an indicator of lower consciousness. I could offer many more examples.
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  6.  @uninspired3583  Then call it a bald assertion, that doesn't phase me in the least. As a change of pace, do you believe that anything possessing intelligence can suffer? Can a plant suffer? Can an AI suffer?
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