Pavel Balaban. Cognitive consciousness? Animal sentience? Self-pleasuring snails!

Prof. Pavel Balaban, Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, RAS, Moscow, Russia. The problem of animal consciousness is starting to occupy a fundamental position in the scientific and ethical problems of consciousness. Scientifically, this is due to a conceptual shift in understanding the basic essence of consciousness not as a language grounded phenomenon unique to humans, but as a much broader spectrum of subjective feelings, extended into vast domains of the animal kingdom. This changes the picture of the scientific study of consciousness, removing humans from the pedestal of the privileged owner of the subjective experience. Ethically, this conceptual shift is intimately linked to evolution in public awareness of animal consciousness and changes in public policy regarding treatment of animals, their suffering and protection. Discussing the impact and implications of these critical shifts was the subject of the Animal Consciousness Conference held May 1–5, 2023 in Dharamshala, Ind