Yes, the ants have great difficulty working out what the Empire State Building is, discovering its dimensions, structure, etc. But if the ants hypothesise a supernatural being as an "explanation", that leaves them further away from the truth than before.
It is still widely believed that humans are the only animals with conscious thought. That is, you can chose to do sometihing or not: override the hard-wiring essentially. That's what sets us apart from lions, apes and the like. Although studies are now finding that play isn't only a form of hard coded means of survivial learning, but also something some animals do for fun. That may change the widely adopted views.
choice is the difference between a robot and an animal/human. choice is also why we are having this convosation atall. and choice will be the end of us, should we choose it
Animals don't really have choice (yet to be proven if they have) it's a survival instinct. And one or two stories of daring do by a dolphin doesn't really count as proof
How many were you thinking of ? Your use of the word "set" gives the impression that a pair wont be enough . Also, I`m presuming you are currently a geezer , what makes you think you would return as a woman as opposed to another geezer or maybe some other sort of beastie altogether , an ant on the Empire Sate Building for example ?
A set would be nice, big isn't always best so a variety of sizes for different circumstances would be nice. Can you be re incarnated as a building or inanimate object ? or is the implication that I resemble and inanimate object currently and so I am by default likely to come back as another one. Would be harsh but fair.
I think we are beginning to realise that some animals are a lot more capable than we used to believe. Self awareness is not confined to humans as demonstrated by the mirror or rouge test.
Some of the last few years has seen some fantastic developments in animal behaviour modelling with some innovative ideas as to how they communicate. Programme the other day talking about how dolphins appear to have names, as their signature click is clear, but they have found other dolphins mimic the unique click and the 'called' one comes to investigate. Same with whales.
