this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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Entomology

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[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 2 points 1 year ago

It seems to me tragedy is matter of audience perspective, a reflection of their sympathies, and of perceiving a narrative. (The audience could be self.)

If you are struck with sudden excruciating pain, with no time to anticipate it, and no brain-space left to reflect on it, does that make it less terrible?

The question of a protozoa is a good one. Does such an organism even have a mental state? (And I suppose that's all the author of the article meant by "consciousness"... some kind of flow of subjective experience.) I can understand doubt at that level, but insects even have brains.