I Am a Strange Loop - Douglas R. Hofstadter [53]
Does a mosquito have even the tiniest glimmering of itself as being a moving part in a vast world? Once again, I suspect not, because this would require all sorts of abstract symbols to reside in its microscopic brain — symbols for such notions as “big”, “small”, “part”, “place”, “move”, and so on, not to mention “myself ”. Why would a mosquito need such luxuries? How would they help it find blood or a mate more efficiently? A hypothetical mosquito that had enough brainpower to house fancy symbols like these would be an egghead with a lot more neurons to carry around than its more streamlined and simpleminded cousins, and it would thereby be heavier and slower than they are, meaning that it wouldn’t be able to compete with them in the quests for blood and reproduction, and so it would lose out in the evolutionary race.
My intuition, at any rate, is that a mosquito’s very efficient teeny little nervous system lacks perceptual categories (and hence symbols) altogether. If I am not mistaken, this reduces the kind of self-perception loops that can exist in a mosquito’s brain to an exceedingly low level, thus rendering a mosquito a very “small-souled man” indeed. I hope it doesn’t sound too blasphemous or crazy if I suggest that a mosquito’s “soul” might be roughly the same “size” as that of the little red spot of light that bounces around on the wall at the Exploratorium — let’s say, one ten-billionth of one huneker (i.e.., roughly one trillionth of a human soul).
To be sure, I’m being flippant in making this numerical estimate, but I am quite serious in presenting my subjective guess about whether symbols are present or absent in a mosquito’s brain. Nevertheless, it is just a subjective guess, and you may not agree with it, but disputes about such fine points are not germane here. The key point is much simpler and cruder: merely that there is some kind of creature to which essentially this level of complexity, and no greater level, would apply. If you disagree with my judgment, then I invite you to slide up or down the scale of various animal intellects until you feel you have hit the appropriate level.
One last reflection on all this. Some readers might protest, with what sounds like great sincerity, about all these questions about a mosquito’s-eye view on the world: “How could we ever know? You and I can’t get inside a mosquito’s brain or mind — no one can. For all I know, mosquitoes are every bit as conscious as I am!” Well, I would respectfully suggest that such claims cannot be sincere, because here’s ten bucks that say such readers would swat a mosquito perched on their arm without giving it a second thought. Now if they truly believe that mosquitoes are quite possibly every bit as sentient as themselves, then how come they’re willing to snuff mosquito lives in an instant? Are these people not vile monsters if they are untroubled by executing living creatures who, they claim, may well enjoy just as much consciousness as do humans? I think you have to judge people’s opinions not by their words, but by their deeds.
An Interlude on Robot Vehicles
Before moving on to consider higher animal species, I wish to insert a brief discussion of cars that drive themselves down smooth highways or across rocky deserts. Aboard any such vehicle are one or more television cameras (and laser rangefinders and other kinds of sensors) equipped with extra processors that allow the vehicle to make sense of its environment. No amount of simplistic analysis of just the colors or the raw shapes on the screen is going to provide good advice as to how to get around obstacles without