We are too humane.

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Well, let's see. We allegedly progressed from soup to simplistic organisms to animals to humans. Given the magnitude of the change and progress so far, if the tale were true we're surely destined to become gods.

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Why?

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Disclaimers:
1. It won't happen, of course, being Jehovah God, creator of all is the one and only proven true God and will allow no other gods.

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Wrong. The only true proven god is Krishna. Everybody knows that.

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It appears you just had to say something, so as to put another "yes" on buz's "posts awaiting responses" profile report card.

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Anyone who would look at this reply, or my post that you have replied to, would know that it is not especially substantive and not indicative of you ducking out on a thread. Indeed, you even indicated that you were not likely to continue here.

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So now do we do a king of the mountain exchange of posts to see who ends up with another damning "yes" on the report card so you can come at me again in the future for non responses?

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Wow, you sure do think I spend all of my time thinking about you and your posts, don't you buz? I assure you, I do not. It takes but a moment of time now and several years of past experience to compile general legacy of your time here.Please don't take it out on me if you now see how many threads you leave anging. Do not kill the messenger.I also know the difference between ducking out on a post and just not bothering to reply in a thread you only posted a passing comment in. We all have those, calm down.

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Sometimes, Schraf, I don't respond to you because, frankly, I don't like dialoging with you.

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I'm shocked to read this, buz.What's not to like about my debating style, buz? I am quite precise and clear, I am logical, and I don't let you distract me from the issue.Surely you can admire that, can't you?

You know, buz, as maddening and bullheaded as you are, you can be quite gracious, and that is truly an admirable quality.I never take what anyone here says personally, but I appreciate your comments.

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My simplified definition of consciousness would be 'self aware and capable of thought'. I don't think animals are either of these. You can't prove that they aren't but you can't prove that they are either.

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I will add to what others have said about primate studies WRT animals being self aware.Dolphins are definitely self-aware, and parrots may be. Here's a short description of what Alex, an African Gray parrot that has been studied for 20 years, can do:Alex (parrot) - Wikipedia

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Sometimes it seems that some animals may be conscious (I've seen some really smart dogs that seemed to know what was going on). I think the closest we've come is teaching chimps sign language, but linguists say that it isn't actually language when chimps use sign language. Its still just a response to a stimulus, which isn't neccessarily consciousness.

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Yes, linguists say that the sign language the other primates are doing isn't language the way we think of language, but this is mainly due to the lack of grammar.It is, however, quite good communication.