Some of the materialists here get all huffy when you ask them if insects are conscious. Well, — RogueAI

Makes me mad as a hornet.

Makes me mad as a hornet. — Hanover

He said waspishly.

Plant consciousness is where the current edge and debate is the most interesting.

Are you a Vonnegut fan? — wonderer1

Among other things. Why?

Among other things. Why? — Vera Mont

I get the impression that you might appreciate Vonnegut's thinking.

Which might not have occurred to me, except someone in my science fiction book group recently suggested a group field trip to the Kurt Vonnegut museum. I haven't read anything by Vonnegut in a long time, other than the short story Harrison Bergeron which I reread occasionally.

I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I just happened upon Brain size predicts learning abilities in bees.

I haven't read anything by Vonnegut in a long time — wonderer1

I've recently re-read a couple of them. One of my favourites is Galapagos and the other is Cat's Cradle. The book is dated; the issues are eternal.
(It's hard to find a link to books that's not commercial - unless I resort to wiki, which is often a pain in the ass to navigate)
I've also gone back to Bradbury as a refuge from the news headlines.

I tried to read that articles, but as with so many newspapers and journals on line, it's like peering through a damn mail slot, so much of the page is obscured by mastheads and flags or advertisements. Too annoying!
However, it stands to reason that bees should be able to learn: their environment changes by weather and available crops; not every worker in a hive comes to maturity in the same part of the season, so they can't be pre-programmed to specific plants or foraging routes. They are required to explore, decide, correct for mistakes.
Two videos I enjoyed
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLi5htzDd4o

One of my favourites is Galapagos and the other is Cat's Cradle. — Vera Mont

Cat's Cradle is what my book group is planning to read prior to our museum trip. I've read it, but I think I was 14 or 15 at the time, so I expect to get a lot out of rereading it.

The scale of difference between an insect and a man is astronomical. Ascribing to them elements of human consciousness is patently absurd on those grounds.

Plant consciousness is where the current edge and debate is the most interesting. — Bylaw

Unless you just ate a salad.

Ascribing to them elements of human consciousness is patently absurd on those grounds. — NOS4A2

Who said "human consciousness"? A cockroach has beetle consciousness; a chameleon has reptile consciousness; a shark has piscine consciousness ... a human has hominid consciousness.
As to 'elements' - those are the characteristics of biological entities which make up humans, as well as other monkeys, insects and frogs. (It's not size that counts; it's what you can do with it.)
Some humans - well, over the centuries, an unfortunately large number of humans, including some very influential ones - are insecure of their place at the tippy-top of Creation, they use every excuse to put other species down, make them insignificant, reduce them to 'things' that exist for the use of humans. The last of us will be all alone on a dying planet.

:up:

When we speak of pain and joy, are speaking of any other consciousness than human consciousness? No. Sharks have shark physiology. Insects have insect physiology. It’s an anthropomorphic mistake to assume they feel the same.

We don’t really understand anything about consciousness. So it’s hard to say if insects have it or not.

When we speak of pain and joy, are speaking of any other consciousness than human consciousness? No. Sharks have shark physiology. Insects have insect physiology. It’s an anthropomorphic mistake to assume they feel the same. — NOS4A2

The claim is not that they feel the same kinds of things as humans necessarily, it's that they feel something at all. Insects are conscious, but they feel insecty things.

I agree. I think it's significant that a prestigious journal is taking it seriously.

When we speak of pain and joy, are speaking of any other consciousness than human consciousness? No. — NOS4A2

What makes you think that? You've never met a dog?*

Sharks have shark physiology. Insects have insect physiology. — NOS4A2

The similarity of physiologies throughout the animal kingdom make it possible to classify them (us) as animalia. We have similar cells that perform similar functions.

All animals have a true nervous system except sea sponges.https://organismalbio.biosci.gatech.edu/chemical-and-electrical-signals/nervous-systems/

*I had an acquaintance once who subscribed to the everything but humans are just automatons school of contempt. He explained as how animals don't have emotions, they just respond to stimuli and act on instinct and then he told me that his neighbour's dog hated him. I wasn't surprised - either by the animosity or the self-contradiction.

All I know is that it was the novel in which there was a metal dildo called Steely Dan which then provided the name for the well-known musical ensemble (and my personal all-time favourite band). — Wayfarer

You have fantastic taste.

All I know is that it was the novel in which there was a metal dildo called Steely Dan which then provided the name for the well-known musical ensemble (and my personal all-time favourite band). — Wayfarer

Me too