An octopus is the closest thing to an alien here on earth

qz.com

9 pointssgustard3 comments

My guess is that animals are indeed conscious. However, without language they aren't capable of doing what human beings (embedded in culture) uniquely do: creating explanations for things.

It is a good guess - because they are conscious (each species in their own way, of course). But many animals - if not all - do have a language! They are even capable of lying to one another - the art that, incidentally, humans have brought to perfection (and it is indeed in creating explanations where this art finds it biggest use).

>But many animals - if not all - do have a language!

They do signal to each other. They even use symbolic representation (e.g. in the case of dancing bees). But they don't explain things to one another. If they did then I expect we'd find chimps working in translation agencies.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com