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We could connect a nociceptor to a computer. Does the computer now experience pain?

Just because the mechanism exists for sedation or pain does not imply the experience of consciousness or pain.

I’m not arguing that. I’m arguing that a nociceptor is necessary but not sufficient to argue for pain experience. And plants don’t even fulfil this basic, necessary criterion. So the “type of work” shown in the article isn’t the same kind of evidence conventionally used to argue for pain experience.

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