Of course animals can think, they have a brain don’t they? They have a memory don’t they? If
they have a brain then they have memory and if they have memory then they will have thoughts. One follows the other as a thought is just a
memory inside the brain.
It was not enough the arbitrary infinity of the universe, now we have also the unhappiness of
the animals. How do you know that? Do you have an animal brain to know it?
I’m very curious about this whole line of reasoning and where it comes from. A couple points
that are unclear to me...<snip> You state that animals in the wild are ‘constantly on the alert, vigilant for predators and
scanning for attack on prey.’ I do think it’s obvious that animals in the wild must be vigilant – both for predators and prey, but I
wonder about this word ‘constantly’ that you use here. I’m told for example that some tigers sleep up to 18-20 hours per day – that
certainly doesn’t sound like ‘constant vigilance’ – and we’re all familiar with videos of them having time for play and romping
around. Also, I don’t know about you, but I interpret their hunting activity as probably quite enjoyable – much like people enjoy the
hunt as well. Oh, and to not be concerned about guilt when killing another animal – that sounds pretty good to me too.
Generally animals only kill to eat. Animals don’t kill others of the same species except in
rare instances. Wild animals do not abuse each other. You may be projecting your own suppressed conflict onto ‘out there’(?)
Animals experience more happiness that humans because they don’t think (worry) and we do.
What I wanted to know was: when was it that animals became
inhabited by the ‘alien identity’, a rudimentary sense of self?
Many animals seem to spend much of their lives virtually free
from feeling fearful ... yet I admit that fear is inherent in the instinct for
survival which is always present, though not always operative.
