Hacker News Reader

It's not obvious at all. Actually it's not obvious at all that anything else than yourself can feel pain :)

I agree that it's a reasonable extrapolation though :)

I have stepped on a dogs foot. It made a “Yipe!” noise and leapt back. Then it approached me “submissively”, with it’s head held low and tail down. It seems rather “obvious” to me that the animal felt pain, reacted suddenly to the sensation, and then completely changed it’s demeanour towards me.

I believe the person you're responding to is referencing solipsism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism

Yes, something like this. For all we know, everything else might just be a big chemical reaction, with no pain involved. The dog reaction might just be like a reflex.

The only reason why we know it own pain exist is, well, because it hurts :)

(But once again, I think the theory that other people and animals also feel pain is reasonable and probably the truth)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com