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  1. #1

    Do Insects have feelings?

    I know it might sound crazy, but those ants children squash and incinerate out of boredom, those flies people swat away at daily, and the butterflies people enjoy tearing apart, do they have emotions or feelings? I just can't see insects as living creatures, and more of parasites than anything.

    Can someone elaborate this to me in a little more detail?

  2. #2
    Dont know, dont care. I dont want bugs near me lol.

  3. #3
    No they don't. A nervous system to feel pain is complex and an insect would not have such a complex system. Its also because their small compared to much larger animals where something complex can develop.
    Obelodalix
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  4. #4
    In a "Do bugs have nervous systems" kind of manner, then no.

    However if you're looking for something deeper, I'll leave you with this Buddhist perspective:

    Question:
    But surely it is good to kill sometimes. To kill disease-spreading insects, for example, or someone who is going to kill you?

    Answer:
    It might be good for you but what about that thing or that person? They wish to live just as you do. When you decide to kill a disease-spreading insect, your intention is perhaps a mixture of self-concern (good) and revulsion (bad). The act will benefit yourself (good) but obviously it will not benefit that creature (bad). So at times it may be necessary to kill but it is never wholly good.

    Question:
    You Buddhists are too concerned about ants and bugs.

    Answer:
    Buddhists strive to develop a compassion that is undiscriminating and all-embracing. They see the world as a unified whole where each thing or creature has its place and function. They believe that before we destroy or upset nature's delicate balance, we should be very careful. Just look at those cultures where emphasis is on exploiting nature to the full, squeezing every last drop out of it without putting anything back, on conquering and subduing it. Nature has revolted. The very air is becoming poisoned, the rivers are polluted and dead, so many beautiful animal species are extinct, the slopes of the mountains are barren and eroded. Even the climate is changing. If people were a little less anxious to crush, destroy and kill, this terrible situation may not have arisen. We should all strive to develop a little more respect for life. And this is what the first precept is saying.

  5. #5
    Mechagnome Kardezar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bearshield View Post
    Dont know, dont care.
    Yeah, burn them all lol!

  6. #6
    Titan Kalyyn's Avatar
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    Bugs have basic pain-like impulses to warn them that something bad is occurring to them. This is designed to keep them from unknowingly killing themselves. However, they don't feel pain like we do. Imagine you have a red light in front of you. When you see this red light, you know to move. Bug pain is like that light. If it comes on, they naturally know to do something. However, they aren't punished for inaction in the same way we are.

    So go ahead and kill all the bugs you want.

  7. #7
    Deleted
    Insects do not feel pain. They lack a set of nerve cells called nocicepters, which allow you to feel pain, which are only present in larger (than insects) animals. Nor do they, as far as we know, have emotions and act solely on physical stimuli, such as hunger, thirst, fatigue.
    They do have nerves, though, that allow them to percieve when something isn't right, but no, they don't feel pain and almost certainly don't have emotions.

  8. #8
    Warchief
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    I dunno, that carpenter ant sure looks like it's in pain when I only half-step on it and it's half crumpled and squirming around. Or when I don't fully smash that spider, and it sprints off away from me.

    I hate bugs.

  9. #9
    Seeing as the thread's question has been answered, I'd like to ask another question.

    Salandrin, do you really need to start about 10 new threads every day? Look through his post history. The vast majority of his posts are new threads; he rarely responds to the threads he creates, instead opting to create new ones every hour.

    And when the threads are gems such as 'would you eat this?' and 'if a DK was your roommate'... I can't help but feel that's some sort of violation on spamming rules.

  10. #10
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    i hope so, i want them to feel the pain when i rip their wings off or stamp on them, teach them a bloody lesson about tresspassing!

  11. #11
    The Lightbringer Primernova's Avatar
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    Yeah they do, they feel fear, pain, hunger, the need to propagate (horny), the need to protect a nest/colony and go thru cycles of needing to molt or migrate.

    It's far more simple then a mammal but still feelings none the less.

    Don't kill living things unless it's absolutely necessary.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Salandrin View Post
    I know it might sound crazy, but those ants children squash and incinerate out of boredom, those flies people swat away at daily, and the butterflies people enjoy tearing apart, do they have emotions or feelings? I just can't see insects as living creatures, and more of parasites than anything.

    Can someone elaborate this to me in a little more detail?
    insects are living creatures just as plants are... saying they are parasitic is also wrong as only a fraction of insect are parasitic in nature... They do not have emotions, they might feel pain or not but this is irrelevant as the importance of a creatures feelings is invertly proportionate to its cuteness squared

    ---------- Post added 2011-10-19 at 02:57 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Primernova View Post
    Yeah they do, they feel fear, pain, hunger, the need to propagate (horny), the need to protect a nest/colony and go thru cycles of needing to molt or migrate.

    It's far more simple then a mammal but still feelings none the less.

    Don't kill living things unless it's absolutely necessary.
    so... you shouldnt walk on grass unless its absolutly necessary? Ban all picnics worldwide

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Cattaclysmic View Post
    so... you shouldnt walk on grass unless its absolutly necessary? Ban all picnics worldwide
    What are you, the bringer of death or something? Grass doesn't just die when you walk on it

  14. #14
    The Lightbringer Primernova's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cattaclysmic View Post
    insects are living creatures just as plants are... saying they are parasitic is also wrong as only a fraction of insect are parasitic in nature... They do not have emotions, they might feel pain or not but this is irrelevant as the importance of a creatures feelings is invertly proportionate to its cuteness squared
    Bugs are cute and I don't personally like to kill plants either but an insect is certainly higher on the 'feeling' chart then a plant. I duno, maybe just deep down I don't want to feel like an ogre or giant, ripping a tiny creature apart or squashing it, just because I can.

    It could also be that I grew up in Florida and having a vendetta aginst bugs in Florida is futile. I just know how to not draw them and if one sneaks in, I just boot it out on a piece of paper, had to do that with a snake once too.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Primernova View Post
    I duno, maybe just deep down I don't want to feel like an ogre or giant, ripping a tiny creature apart or squashing it, just because I can.
    I do it for EXACTLY that reason. I usually make ogre sounds while I'm stomping around on bugs.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Event Horizon View Post
    What are you, the bringer of death or something? Grass doesn't just die when you walk on it
    it does when i do... I and i cut it in half for a living...

    evry day im gar-gardening

    ---------- Post added 2011-10-19 at 03:16 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Primernova View Post
    Bugs are cute and I don't personally like to kill plants either but an insect is certainly higher on the 'feeling' chart then a plant. I duno, maybe just deep down I don't want to feel like an ogre or giant, ripping a tiny creature apart or squashing it, just because I can.

    It could also be that I grew up in Florida and having a vendetta aginst bugs in Florida is futile. I just know how to not draw them and if one sneaks in, I just boot it out on a piece of paper, had to do that with a snake once too.
    growing up in Denmark i wage a personal vendetta against anything nature...
    http://satwcomic.com/wonderful-nature this illustrates perfectly...

  17. #17
    Starship troopers will answer all your questions.

  18. #18
    The Lightbringer Primernova's Avatar
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    growing up in Denmark i wage a personal vendetta against anything nature...
    http://satwcomic.com/wonderful-nature this illustrates perfectly...

    Lol nice! Thanks for that.

  19. #19
    Brewmaster redruMPanda's Avatar
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    Anything that does not have a concept of death does not have feelings. The Ants are not aware that they one day will die so no they do not get their feelings hurt when you burn them, but as for the moral issue with this I'll answer with a question of my own. Do you know that people who get joy out of hurting or killing defenseless creatures show a deep rooted seed of insanity which is also an early warning sign of a serial killer? They do however feel pain.

  20. #20
    Deleted
    burn them all

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