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handymac

Altruism in animals

handymac
16 years ago

As some folks here know, I am on record often saying animals do not reason---and are not sentient. It seems my definition of sentient is too restricted and animals are indeed sentient.

Now comes the results of a study done by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology that reported the first experimental evidences of spontaneous altruism in chimpanzees---altruism towards both chimps and humans.

Altuuism being defined as aiding another being for no reason or reward---totally free and unencumbered generosity.

The article is in the January 2008 issue of Discovery magazine, on page 63.

Now, on page 62 is an article on how robots evolved---in laboratory tests----the ability to sacrifice themselves for the good of the group. Other robots developed the ability to lie.

Hmmmm, sounds sentient to me.

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