Humans have tended to believe that we are the only species to possess certain traits, behaviors, or abilities, especially with regard to cognition. Occasionally, we extend such traits to primates or other mammals—species with which we share fundamental brain similarities. Over time, more and more of these supposed pillars of human exceptionalism have fallen. Nieder et al. now argue that the relationship between consciousness and a standard cerebral cortex is another fallen pillar (see the Perspective by Herculano-Houzel). Specifically, carrion crows show a neuronal response in the palliative end brain during the performance of a task that correlates with their perception of a stimulus. Such activity might be a broad marker for consciousness.
A neural correlate of sensory consciousness in a corvid bird
Science
25 Sep 2020:
Vol. 369, Issue 6511, pp. 1626-1629
DOI: 10.1126/science.abb1447
In my travels and wanderlust throughout the American west, I’ve observed, met and befriended many members of the Corvidae family and of the Corvus genus at large. Just for one example, out walking one summer day I heard a prominent thunderclap, saw the beginning strikes of a lightning storm, and then a big raven feather came floating down from the heavens a handful yards before me.
There are many stories, voluminous lore. The indigenous knew, the naturalists, farmers, poets and more.
Mother Goose knew too:
Heigh-ho, The Carrion Crow
A carrion crow sat on an oak,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do,
Watching a tailor shape his cloak;
Sing heigh-ho, the carrion crow,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do!Wife, bring me my old bent bow,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do,
That I may shoot yon carrion crow;
Sing heigh-ho, the carrion crow,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do!The tailor he shot, and missed his mark,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do!
And shot his own sow quite through the heart;
Sing heigh-ho, the carrion crow,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do!Wife! bring brandy in a spoon,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do!
For our old sow is in a swoon;
Sing heigh-ho, the carrion crow,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do!
Science is a player, science has a role, science contributes mightily to our survival, but science should never have become anything near “infallible” let alone godlike in the collective mind. Indeed, farmers, mystics and poets often arrive at truths and solutions centuries and even millennia before they do. To walk the sword’s edge of a balanced life requires an equivalent assessment of sacred information from all forms of sources.
Anything short of that and you risk being less exceptional than the very regal creatures over whom we presume superiority, as noted in the study quoted. After all, simply take a look around at what’s happened to nature—to earth—since science replaced religion at the top of the value pyramid.
Do you not find that of all species, homo sapiens is by far the very worst of planetary stewards? So much for science. You might even conclude the occidental, Greco-Roman mind is heavy overdue for a nice fresh reboot—
—which, by the way, is yet another empowering effect that masterful poetry evokes.
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