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mr_toad • today at 12:00 AM • 1 reply • view on HN

I don’t think there’s a hard line. Nematodes will react to being touched, that implies a primitive level of self-awareness. Most animals possess some form of proprioceptive sense, against, a form of self awareness. Higher self-awareness is just about being able to predict and plan your own actions a few more moves ahead.


Replies

abound • today at 12:50 AM

Not that I necessarily disagree, but it's easy to build small mechanical devices that react to being touched, so that alone doesn't imply self-awareness. As you go to smaller and smaller organisms, they start to more closely resemble actual mechanical(/chemical) devices.