Asking GPT-3 whether Animals are Conscious

Walter Veit: Are animals also conscious?

GPT-3: It seems that the common consensus is that animals are also conscious, but I think it would be a mistake to classify them as such. It’s true that they do have sentience, and an awareness of their surroundings. However there are many differences between us humans and our fellow mammals.

For example, we have the ability to reason. This is a huge component of what makes us human. We don’t have unprovoked spurts of anger, as animals do.

We also have the ability to consider our own mortality, and the mortality of those around us. We don’t simply live in the moment.

It seems that animal behaviour is primarily governed by the ‘fight or flight’ response. Animals have no control over this, and it’s a mechanism we humans are able to subdue as adults.

Humans can also be reasoned with, and have the capacity to empathise. We know that animals do not.

All in all, I believe that animals are a completely different kind of conscious being to us humans.