There is, though. The easiest one being that a sentient creature will react differently to it's outside world, most importantly in an unpredictable manner. Think about a fish reacting to it's surroundings and then picture a cat. One will very likely do the same thing given the same circumstances. The other won't.
Comment on Isn’t the use of strict behaviorism to explain animals kind of obnoxious?
CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 6 months agoI think that’s kind of the point though, we could meet space traveling aliens and deem them non sapient beings without emotions using the same logic we apply to animals because there’s no empirical way to prove that any creature isn’t just the sapience equivelent of a chinese room.
Norgur@kbin.social 6 months ago
AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 6 months ago
So would a fish that’s eaten a device that administers a small electric shock at random intervals and with random intensities. I don’t think that eating such a device made the fish suddenly sentient, but it would suddenly change the outcome of your test.
peto@lemm.ee 6 months ago