fine philosophy guntr, and i read what you're saying with open eyes.
i think for me personaly, right now in my life, i find the absolute arrogance of humans considering themselves to be the only brain in the known universe to be aware of itself more than a little disconcerting for our future.
the house hold dog is aware of itself for sure, it knows that it will get fed and has no real fight to survive, and it enjoys walks, playing catch the ball, all that stuff. when you dont play with the dog for a few days it become petulant and bored, hankering for enjoyable liesure pursuits and to strut its funky stuff infront of the other dogs, a clear sign it is aware of itself.
this is most obviously attributable to the fact that it almost shares a common human existance, easy, no worries, thigns to do that are fun.
therefore it may not be a valid example for life itself as nature dictates it.
however, i could think of more. have you never seen seagulls or other birds just playing on the wind? no struggle, no fight, just relaxing and having fun flying around on the wind and heat of the ground they hold such contempt for.
some dolphins are well known to have complex social groups, and to often enjoy a good group game with any debris or rubbish they find floating. they show thier healthy energy to one another, the flirt and jostle around and show many many signs of being aware of thier own existance.
These are creatures with the power to diagnose cancers, illness, health in other lifeforms they are so developed in ways we never think about.
do humans really honestly assume they can rightly say we are the only lifeform known in the universe that is aware of ourselves, just because we have developed verbal communication? because we are 'civilised'?
why? how is it that we can be so ignorant a to belive that.
