http://reducing-suffering.org/suffering-in-animals-vs-humans/
This is simply a blog post, but still a fascinating read to me. In the text, the author urges us to remain "militantly agnostic" to the idea that animals may have more conscious experience than we currently believe, even those that are not overly clever or emotional.
Since my midterm report will revolve around this debate, skimming this might give everyone a nice mental jog into this line of thinking.
I have had dogs for years over time and I could definitely tell they are more aware of things that we think. I loved every single dog I had to death. They could tell when I was sad or worried or unhappy and they always came to my side when I wasn't feeling well. Even if they knew that their conditions themselves weren't as good, they still lived everyday to the fullest. I had to witness the deaths of two of my puppies dying from the Parvovirus very slowly, but I learned one of the greatest lessons in life from the both of them.
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