Neither did Abel have any concept of danger in the form of another human being, but that hardly means he wasn't self-aware. No maybe about it. No, YOU provide some that they're NOT. There aren't any animals that are self-aware, period. As I said, that doesn't matter. And if you don't use the "reply with quote" function, consider the conversation terminated.
and you come to this conclusion, how exactly .. perhaps a little bit of evidence to support your opinion . .though knowing your history probably not. I have, and you just dismissed it without providing a single shred of anything to back up your dismissal .. but here it is again - http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=when-does-consciousness-arise However I expect you will just come up with some asinine comment. There are actually nine animals (including humans) who have various levels of self-awareness, which are as follows; 1. Chimpanzee 2. Bottlenose dolphin 3. Bonobo 4. Elephant 5. Orca 6. Gorilla 7. Magpie (European) 8. Orangutan 9. Humans all of the primate species, including humans, fail the mirror test until they are around 18 months old. The mirror test is one of the basic experiments to show self awareness, and while the original mirror test was not conclusive it was improved by marking the animal with two odorless dye spots. Of course I expect you to just throw this out of the window with nothing more than your own assumptions that the test and the scientist who invented it are just "idiots"
The fact is, we have much stronger evidence of self-awareness in many animal species than in babies, yet you blindly choose to believe the complete opposite. Humans are sapient when developed sufficiently, and thats it. We arent special, not from birth. Well, maybe you are special, in a mental sort of way..
Here are some very self-aware dolphins looking at themselves in a mirror. [video=youtube;WgJl4bONOqc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgJl4bONOqc[/video]
It was not posted in hopes that anyone like you would understand it, apologies for any misunderstanding. You have certainly provided an avalanche of evidence that you haven't the foggiest idea what self-awareness is, and you more than welcome to abate your generosity in this regard ASAP. I'm certainly open to the possibility that many humans evince a level of sentience which is comparable to that of animals, but that's another thread. Unfortunately, the assertion is only credible to those who are content to accept lies as facts. Which is of course utterly irrelevant to the topic. Bad try. Narcissistic humans sometimes do likewise; but paradoxically enough, they are not the least bit self-aware when they do so.
The self is a very dubious notion. If our language didn't enforce the constant use of 'I' we'd laugh at it. 'Man is a bundle of sensations', etcetera, etcetera.
