[MD] Consciousness a la Platt

[craigerb at comcast.net]

[Arlo]
> many animal species exhibit (what we may think of as) rudimentary social 
> behaviors. That is, they mediate their behavior with some form of 
> socially negotiated symbolic activity.

This is how it works around here:
I place equal amounts of the same food in each side of a twin-bowl
food dish.  If both cats come at the same side, they each eat from one side.
Whenever one cat comes alone, she eats all of one side & leaves the other side.***
To me, this kind of reciprocal behavior is evidence of self-/other- consciousness,
but I don't find it "socially negotiated symbolic activity".  

[Arlo]
> For an ape to get that "tree concept", he would have to be 
> socialized by humans (as Koko was), or wait until a natural 
> evolutionary trajectory led two apes to an "Aha!" moment of shared 
> attention. 

I think such "Aha!" moments are rare.  Consider when a child learns
to read.  There is rarely an "Aha!" moment, rather it proceeds "two steps
forward & one step back" of increasing compentency.
Craig
*** This is a simplification.  Actually, the cat will try one side, then the
other, then finish one of the sides, leaving the other side (except for the
sample that was already eaten).