Who’s There?

When we look at insects, we may think, ‘What on Earth is going on inside their minds’, and if they are actually “there” ?

For a very long time, we didn’t see much behind their eyes—that they were unthinking, unfeeling creatures whose behavior is entirely hardwired. Such perception allowed us to live powerfully above them in an untouchable hierarchy. The more we segregated ourselves from them, the less accountability we felt for the way we treated them.

Insect Got The Brains and The Hearts

Yet, the tides are turning. Insects, once seen as inferior and lacking in feelings are disproving everyone, even the scientists.

10 years ago science had no idea that bees, could play with objects, a sign of intrinsic motivation and enjoyment, or they could make decisions based on past experiences, suggesting some level of subjective awareness. It’s not just the bees; signs are everywhere, from ants rescuing trapped nest mates, digging away only over trapped (and thus invisible) body parts, to flies immersed in virtual reality, showing attention and time awareness.

Mass Murder

Although they make up 40% of living species, we rarely see them for what they are. So many of us kill them with the back of a slipper without even a second thought. We farm them—not just a few, but a trillion of them, and quadrillions are wiped out every year by pesticides.

We basically mass murder them all the time.

I Think, Therefore I Am

Of course, seeing them as these hardwired and inferior beings was a very efficient shortcut to block off empathy sensors and keep the ‘business as usual’. Yet science is challenging this conventional perception of insects being six legged automatons, something that would have seemed absurd 20 years ago.

Science is realizing that they have thoughts and feelings. They are in fact actually "there". As Descartes answers the question of consciousness in a devastatingly simple way, they may as well say 'I think, therefore I am.'