Fish Sentience Symposium – Initial Thoughts
Well, if you ever want to meet pretty, intelligent woman who are very interesting, attend the next “Fish Sentience Symposium” in your neighbourhood!
I just arrived back not long ago, and my first thoughts are that it was a very interesting event and I also found it personally worthwhile even though I continue to disagree with some of the conclusions or “beliefs” that were presented.
The organizers, Georgia Mason and Rich Moccia were both very gracious hosts and I have to admit that it was appropriate for me to apologise to Ms Mason after the event for an email that I had originally sent in which I made some assumptions that were incorrect.
The event was well attended – apparently the organizers expected about 40 people to be in attendance but in fact, the number was 98.
I walked in a bit late because of extremely poor instructions from a University of Guelph parking attendant who told me that the Animal Sciences building was “right across the road.” Well, what was right across the road was the Ontario Vetrinary College – at first I figured that maybe the OVC and the Animal Science building were one and the same. I wandered in that building before finding out that the Animal Sciences building was indeed a different building, and a bit of a walk away yet.
Because I was late, I missed out on casting my vote on the questions that were something like:
Are fish capable of conciousness?
Can fish suffer from pain?
I didn’t really mind missing out on this as I don’t think these issues will ever be solved by debate anyhow.
The first speaker was Gary Varner of Texas A & M University. He discussed philosophical arguments and some different philosophical thought on determining sentience in a being. I found this quite interesting, and at one point, wondered if he had read my article (over here) as he just about stated word for my word, my argument,
” Those who suggest “I can feel your pain” are perhaps being empathetic, but it is IMPOSSIBLE scientifically and in reality for someone to “feel MY pain.””
Anyhow, more on Gary Varner’s thoughts on a later date.
After Varner, Dr. Braithwaite gave her presentation, most of it a summary of the Sneddon Study along with some other interesting studies that I’d like to research a bit myself. I don’t think Dr. Braithwaite came anywhere near proving fish sentience as she relied on studies (it seemed to me) in regard to fish behaviour – which I have major issues with if someone is trying to prove conciousness and the ability to suffer. And to be fair, Dr. Braithwaite admitted that “fish experience” is not the same as “human experience” and that there has not been enough work done to be able to come up with anything definitive.
After the event, some of us headed over to a pub at the University to talk and eat food and drink beer. The food was gratis, the beer we paid for. Both Gary Varner and Dr. Braithewaite attended this informal session and I had the pleasure of speaking with both of them on a variety of topics. I found both to be very engaging and more than willing to answer specific questions. In fact, I brought along my print copy of the original Sneddon Study with Dr. Braithewaite participated in, and had her autograph it for me.
I’ll try to put together a more formal report on what I heard, learned, and my over all thoughts on the event at a later time.
As far as my first paragraph on this post, I had the pleasure of accompanying a very beautiful woman who is a student at Guelph University, to the pub. Along the way, we discussed her research studies, my love of fly fishing, some of the different “issues” and definitions of words used to suggest “suffering,” “pain,” etc., and other general subjects.
Immediately after the seminar, I also had an opportunity to talk with Silvia D’Amelio who was in attendance. Silvia was one of the members of “The Featherweight” team that participated in the Canadian Fly Fishing Championships. I haven’t decided if Silvia is better looking while wearing waders or not wearing waders. In fact, it’s just a silly question! But it was quite interesting to hear Silvia’s thoughts on the symposium as well. I’ve asked her if she’d be willing to help me write a review of the event.
During the informal pub session, I also met with a delightful woman who is studying at Guelph and who hails from Spain originally. We discussed angling issues in her home country as well as other general interest subjects.
Indeed, all the attendees that I was able to speak with were all very open to ideas, willing to discuss their thoughts, and for the most part, I was impressed with the level of discussion.