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
2024-06-10
26
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] In the third paragraph, a crow is mentioned as an example to show______.
选项
A、crows are cleverer than chimpanzees
B、crows have a certain amount of intelligence
C、non-primates are as intelligent as primates
D、non-primates are able to use tools
答案
C
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3627528.html
相关试题推荐
Peoplewithpetsfindithardtobelieve,butscientistscontinuetodebatew
Britainwasawealthycountry.Therewereafewveryrichpeoplewhoreceive
Britainwasawealthycountry.Therewereafewveryrichpeoplewhoreceive
Britainwasawealthycountry.Therewereafewveryrichpeoplewhoreceive
Britainwasawealthycountry.Therewereafewveryrichpeoplewhoreceive
Britainwasawealthycountry.Therewereafewveryrichpeoplewhoreceive
Britainwasawealthycountry.Therewereafewveryrichpeoplewhoreceive
[originaltext]Chinaisdraftingnewlawstomakeiteasierforpeopletodo
[originaltext]Chinaisdraftingnewlawstomakeiteasierforpeopletodo
Inthelate1960s,manypeopleinNorthAmericaturnedtheirattentiontoen
随机试题
TheCambridgeUniversityistheplace______.[br]OntheOpenDayyoucangett
Sleepwalkingisadisordercharacterizedbywalkingorotheractivitiesa
Canyouwalkastraightline?Thequestionismuchmoredifficulttoanswer
PerhapslikemostAmericansyouhavesomeextrapoundstoshed.Youmayeven
实现从理性认识到实践的飞跃必须从实际出发,坚持理论和实践相结合的原则。下列做法中
量测隧道衬砌内部应力(应变),应选用()传感器。A:钢弦式压力盒 B:钢弦式
从集团总部的管控能力上看,集团总部要发挥其基本职能,成为母子公司及其协作企业的五
国际收支平衡是指国际收支差额处于一个相对合理的范围内,既( )。A.无巨额的国
试述课外活动和课堂教学的关系。
微分方程ydx+(x-y)dy=0的通解是:(c为任意常数)
最新回复
(
0
)