See photo below. Yes they are alive – well so I assumed – because some of them moved and there was no smell of rotting animal coming from them. This photo is taken in Bull Ring Indoor Market 2014-02-15 around 10:30 AM.
Even if they are not alive I wish to assume that they are, for the purposes of this blog.
They were all packed together like this, having been snatched from some ocean or the other and transported hundreds or more miles to this market. Could they be aware of their circumstances? What would lead me to think that they are aware? Could they be planning a revenge attack on human kind?
These animals have never been observed to create the degree of complexity or command over nature as us humans have. By command I do not mean bending or breaking the laws of nature. By command I mean understanding and manipulation of the forces of nature.
Well, compared to us, they’ve not been known to split atoms, fly to the Moon, build Hubble telescopes, travel faster than the speed of sound, explore environments with the creation of machines and technology that would normally not allow survival.
No – I’m not just talking about using tools. I am talking about beyond tools. Some will say that computers are tools. Well yes – and so is an aeroplane – but ‘tool’ is a very generic term.
It’s one thing to use a stick to spear a fish – that’s a pretty basic use of a stick as a tool. However, things like aeroplanes and computers are vastly different tools. They involve extreme levels of manipulating the forces of nature and the laws of nature. These types of ‘tools’ are complex in that they orchestrate the laws of nature in a way that nature itself would not choose to do.
And – that is the mark of sentience.
So what does this all mean? Well it means that humans should not behave like crabs!!
Errrh.. that’s a strange, sudden and unexpected conclusion – just when you thought I was going to get all uber-philosophical. Now go think about it.
