Do you suppose the "lower"creatures are conscious, even the bugs and insects?

Are they “conscious”? Of course they are. Are they capable of higher thought? No. They can’t ponder on their existence.

The amount of pain and suffering bugs inflict, I hope so and I hope they inturn feel pain when we kill them.

Bugs don’t inflict much pain on me at all.

So do you suppose bugs themselves capable of suffering? And if so, it isn’t by far more likely that the suffering will be inflicted on them by some other bug?

Hmm. Being wrapped up by a spider would be pretty miserable I would think.

I am okay with vertebrates and octopuses being conscious, but I would need to see some evidence that insects have consciousness. Ant colonies have what is called swarm intelligence. A single ant is, as far as I know, pretty much an automaton, but collectively ants are capable of some pretty sophisticated behavior. By way of analogy, a single human neuron has a fixed set of behaviors, but connect enough neurons together and you get intelligence.

So bugs feel no pain? Or must you be conscious to experience pain or suffer at all? And must conscious imply intelligence?

(Please) define conscious.

How about aware of itself? But the question at bottom is about YOUR definition of conscious? Does yours, for example, require a capacity for emotions?

I think so in their own way. We know many creatures experience pain and even happiness. May be different than us in ways but I believe they are aware. And yes there is far too much suffering in this world.

Yes, they are conscious. They just don’t have the mental capacity (reasoning) to be able to think about it.

Conscious? Yes, though their experiences are undoubtedly quite different from humans’.

Doesn’t that render the world a place of unbelievable suffering? I believe it. I’d say rather a place where an unimaginable amount of different experiences are all happening – some of which are suffering, and others aren’t, at any given time.

Do you suppose bugs themselves capable of suffering? Yes. I am quite certain I’ve observed bugs suffering. They certainly show different types and levels of alert, panic, and are capable of various appropriate responses to different situations, even unnatural situations, such as being moved by a human onto a miniature newly-created island in water.

By my definition this means aware of and responding to one’s surroundings; awake.
While there may be pain, there is much joy!
Evidenced here
And here

But those are cartoon bugs. So of course they’re conscious.

@Dutchess III spiders drug their victims before wrapping them. I wonder if the wrapee is rendered comatose unconscious. Or maybe they’re merely paralyzed. If I remember correctly, the venom from some spiders also begins the digestive process of the victim from the inside, in which case, I would think a coma more or less merciful. I wonder if bugs dream.

@HP answered as asked in social

All of my questions are in social. I posted only one that I remember accidentally in general.

Once you start including “lower” creatures, it’s hard to draw a line for exclusion…
UK declares Octopodae sentient.
It’s also an interesting question what capacity humans have to evaluate other creatures’
sentience. How Animals Perceive the World
Being aware of other creatures does not change any suffering in the world, but may open one’s awareness of it. Jaynes are adamant to avoid harm to even the merest of creatures.

It’s humbling to know I’m no more important than an earthworm.

No more important to whom? Don’t kid yourself. Only the worms believe that, and you should assume any who spout such things by definition worms.

In the overall grand scheme of things..

There’s a very erudite woman who hasn’t been active since Sept, 2011.
Her level of knowledge suggested that she was a zoologist.
Here are some of her posts regarding animal rights.

She drew the line of sentience immediately above annelids.

I miss Cris.

WHAT a thread! Old school Fluther