What About Consciousness?

What is it about consciousness that makes it so special? Why do we always seek to test non-human animals to find it within them? What is consciousness? What is reason? In Coetzee's story, "The Lives of Animals" he discusses the idea of consciousness and how we use it to decide other non-human animal's "fate". A great quote from the book is, 

"They tend to have no consciousness therefore. Therefore what? Therefore we are free to use them for our own ends? Therefore we are free to kill them? Why? What is so special about the form of consciousness we recognize that makes killing a bearer of it a crime while killing an animal goes unpunished?"

Why do we obsess over consciousness? Why do we deny consciousness? Many times, I find we are incapable of coming to terms with other animals having thoughts. Being able to feel emotions, to understand, to think. Perhaps our thinking is more complex. Perhaps, we have feel more or reason better. Perhaps. But how can we know for certain when we cannot communicate with other beings? We are constantly testing primates and other beings to measure their intelligence through our standards, but if they fail our test, does that really mean they lack intelligence?

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." -Anonymous

It is convenient for us to pretend we do not know that animals have consciousness, that they feel. It is convenient for us to pretend we do not know all the horrors of factory farms, fur productions, etc. In fact, it's not even convenient, it's deliberate. We do not want to know that the food we are eating is another being's flesh. We do not want to associate that cute bunny rabbit as the hunk of blood and bone on our plates. That it was once a breathing, living, feeling being. Because then that means we took a life. But say we come to terms with the fact that it was living, then what? Then we dehumanize it. We say it was a beast, void of emotions. Incapable of complex thought. What about that makes it okay? What is it about this standard of consciousness that makes killing a being without it okay? 

Maybe conscious beings resemble us too much. Maybe they remind us too much of ourselves. We can see ourselves within them. We can imagine ourselves in their position. We think they can feel and understand their deaths and consider it inhumane to kill them. But what if a being doesn't have as complex of a thought process? Are they not living? Do they not feel pain? Why do we get to decide and set the standard for who lives and dies? 

Here's a photo of a sassy bonobo. I'd like to think it's mocking us. "And you think we lack sentience? Ha."