Arachnophobia

[Michael McMahon]

In the fourth post p. 40 I mention a dream about seeing a spider move a tray of extra legs:

https://onlinephilosophyclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15514&start=585#p423904

[naitche]

Not exactly on topic, but couldn't decide on a more fitting one. 

I found this Lace Monitor eating my eggs this morning (Goanna)

I tried to scare it off, since its been hanging around persistently since it was a hatchling even after run ins with my terrier. Its now big enough to eat him and the chickens, toxic enough to cause pretty bad illness from a bite for the dog and got there on my eggs.

I pushed him away from his perch near the shed roof before he could get through to my other dog who was waiting to tear him apart and he ran along the beams to the cupboard in the 2nd photo, dug himself in the gap between it and the roof. He left after we gave him time and space. I doubt hes going to stay away long. we have too much history now for this scare to work I think.

I've found an old cage that I should be able to modify with a trap door pretty easily so its moved on site close to the eggs. I'll give him a week to be back, plenty of time to set up and bait. I can release him elsewhere.

[Michael McMahon]

On 10/26/2022 at 12:56 PM, naitche said:

I found this Lace Monitor eating my eggs this morning

Cool!

 

"Nagel uses the metaphor of bats to clarify the distinction between subjective and objective concepts. Because bats are mammals, they are assumed to have conscious experience." wiki

One difficulty with assessing the sentience of animals is that they're irrational for often polar opposite reasons. For example we could say a lion isn't fully self-aware because they're dazed after all the carnivorous violence. Yet we could also say a herbivore isn't as conscious simply because it spends an inordinate amount of time in a tranquil state. Likewise we can't always tell immediately why spiders and snakes are non-conscious simply because they're completely different from one another. You'd need to philosphically analyse a species to determine the exact source of its insentience. Maybe it has a trait to such a high extent it becomes ad absurdum. How could a random spider that cannibalizes its own youth have any modicum of awareness? As such you'd almost have to rely on faith that such creatures aren't sentient even if they appear to be more than a mere robot. 

"Spider cannibalism is the act of a spider consuming all or part of another individual of the same species as food. In the majority of cases a female spider kills and eats a male before, during, or after copulation."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_cannibalism

Edited November 2, 2022 by Michael McMahon