首页
登录
职称英语
People with pets find it hard to believe, but scientists continue to debate w
People with pets find it hard to believe, but scientists continue to debate w
游客
2023-09-13
16
管理
问题
People with pets find it hard to believe, but scientists continue to debate whether or not animals are conscious—that is, whether they’re aware of themselves as individuals.
Some still claim that anything animals do is strictly the result of conditioning. Others are willing to grant animals a certain amount of intelligence, but argue that animals are no more self-aware than computers, which, after all, are also capable of complex, seemingly conscious behavior.
One sign of intelligence, if not necessarily consciousness, is tool use. Chimpanzees use sticks to reach for things and fish for termites; they’ve even been seen to attach two sticks together to make a longer stick. Non-primates can be just as ingenious. One scientist had a crow living in his laboratory who was fed dry mash that had to be moistened before it could be eaten. Occasionally the keepers forgot to moisten it. The crow used a cup he had been given as a toy to get his own water and moisten the mash himself!
Egyptian vultures throw rocks at ostrich eggs to break them open; the woodpecker finch, of the Galapagos islands, uses a cactus spine to pry grubs out of tree branches; some green herons will drop small objects onto the surface of the water to lure fish to the surface.
Dolphins have no hands, but they’ve learned to carry rocks around by sucking them into their blowholes. Dolphins will also blow bubble rings, then play with them as they rise to the surface. Sometimes they’ll drop bits of fish or seaweed into the center of a bobble ring just to see what happens.
Nevertheless, many scientists still think that animals are basically sleepwalkers, carrying out complex actions but completely unaware they are doing so.
This notion only dates back to the 1920s, when the psychological theory known as behaviorism took hold. Behaviorists said that any animal behavior, no matter how complex, could be explained in terms of the interaction of learned responses to stimuli. Behaviorism made it possible for psychologists to carry out rigorous experiments, and so it became very popular.
The problem with animal consciousness is that it’s almost impossible to prove rigorously. Still, there is evidence: not only the common-sense evidence pet-owners provide, but experimental evidence (i.e., "if rats and humans react in exactly the same way to certain situations, and humans are aware of why they’re acting that way, maybe rats are too") and indirect evidence (certain brain waves that seem to be linked to conscious thoughts in humans occur in animals, too).
Consciousness, argue the scientists who believe animals possess it, is too important to survival for animals not to possess it. When something unusual or unexpected happens, an organism needs to figure out how to escape or otherwise cope. That’s when consciousness swings into action, and ally animal without it is at a terrible disadvantage. [br] What does the last sentence of the passage mean?
选项
A、It’s easy to understand animal consciousness.
B、It’s easy to understand animals have consciousness.
C、It’s sensible to believe in animal consciousness.
D、It’s sensible to believe animals have consciousness.
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3011265.html
相关试题推荐
Heisa’manwho____________________(信奉严格的原则并且很少背离自己的原则).believesinstrictpri
Theauthorofthepassagedoesnotbelievethat______.[br]Thewriterwouldap
Theauthorofthepassagedoesnotbelievethat______.[br]Thewritersuggests
Theauthorofthepassagedoesnotbelievethat______.[br]Thefox,inthispa
Theauthorofthepassagedoesnotbelievethat______.[br]Thelionrepresents
[originaltext]Onewaythatscientistslearnaboutmanisbyanimals,sucha
Peopleusetheword"unidentified"todescribethereportedflyingobjectsbecau
Peopleusetheword"unidentified"todescribethereportedflyingobjectsbecau
Peopleusetheword"unidentified"todescribethereportedflyingobjectsbecau
Peopleusetheword"unidentified"todescribethereportedflyingobjectsbecau
随机试题
[originaltext]AnewenemyisthreateningJapanesetraditions:leisure.Asp
一、考题回顾 二、考题解析 【教学过程】 (一)开始部分 1
古希腊哲学史上关于“人不能两次踏进同一条河流”和“人一次也不能踏进同一条河流”这
简述社会教学活动的指导要点。
房地产登记的目的和意义是().A:提高建设质量,保障业主财产权益 B:保护房地
交流电流表或交流电压表,指示的数值是()。 (A)平均值;(B)有
下列关于债券投资的说法,错误的是()。A:相对于现金存款,投资债券获得的收益更高
票据行为是指以发生、变更或消灭票据的权利义务关系为目的的法律行为,下列属于票据行
政策性金融机构与商业性金融机构之间最根本的区别在于()。A、是否为政府出资
男,50岁。转移性右下腹痛伴发热2天。既往糖尿病病史10年。查体:T38.5℃,
最新回复
(
0
)