
What Is It Like to Be a Bee? - Hooke
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-it-like-to-be-a-bee
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lucidguppy
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlrsqGal64w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlrsqGal64w)

Half a bee, philosophically, Must, ipso facto, half not be. But half the bee
has got to be. Vis a vis, its entity.

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pasta
I never noticed those hairy ocelli in bee pictures.

Seems like they are for detecting wind direction so they can stay on course in
windy conditions.

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wonderous
Google of “what is it like to be” returns curious results:

[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22What+Is+It+Like+to+Be%22+...](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22What+Is+It+Like+to+Be%22+-bat)

Anyone have suggestions for further notable research on the topic?

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LanguageGamer
I'm not seeing Thomas Nagle's "what is it like to be a bat", that's an
interesting philosopher's take on these type of questions.

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tedmiston
There's a negative filter for bat in the query.

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nullbyte
These are the types of articles I like to see on HN.

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mch82
The article cites and links to a video of a bee learning to move a ball into a
goal that's pretty cool!

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Pica_soO
It feels like a never- ending rave, with different phases of dancing.

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program_whiz
I'm always amazed that this needs to be said, but yes, there are other
creatures with consciousness who see from "first-person perspective". Do we
imagine that only humans can do that, and every other creature, with their
range of similar and not-so-similar brain structures are just automatons that
don't have experiences, but instead just produce outputs for a given set of
inputs? That's almost as arrogant as thinking that since other people differ
in their anatomy and brain structure from you, you're probably the only person
who is consciously experiencing life from first-person (everyone else is just
a flesh robot).

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pavel_lishin
If I weren't a militant solipsist, I would be offended by what you said about
my assumptions!

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tritium
Hey now! The reality that confines a singular, isolated perception can still
incidentally offend its sole sentient entity without motive.

You’re being selfishly stoic, and that’s somewhat repugnant, even for a
solipsist.

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10-6
This reminds me of "What Is it Like to Be a Bat?" by Nagel.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_it_Like_to_Be_a_Bat%3F](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_it_Like_to_Be_a_Bat%3F)

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yipopov
The question of what it's like to be someone or something else is much more
immediate with all the youngsters who claim they feel like the opposite sex
and have done so their whole lives, despite of course not having any frame of
reference for those feelings. And based on those feelings alone we're told
they are to be injected with life-altering chemicals and have life-altering
surgeries.

~~~
jamesrcole
> despite of course not having any frame of reference for those feelings

the question hinges on whether they need a frame of reference for those
feelings. You seem to be implying that it's obvious that they do. Why?

Perhaps it is like the feeling that you're hungry, that it's some sort of
innate reporting that doesn't require an external frame of reference. Or like
the feeling that you're attracted to either males or females, or both. That
seems to be just there, coming from inside.

Personally, I don't know the answer. I don't know if there's any relevant
research, but on the face of it at least, it's not obvious that it should be
one way or the other.

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cristianpascu
I don't have the feeling I am a man. I am a man by the definition we all(used
to) work with. It's not a word encompassing a set of feelings or doings. If
one wishes to use the word "man" for something else, question is: why the same
word? If someone with a vagina and breasts says she is a man, I have to ask:
how do you know? I don't know what the man next to me feels like or thinks. I
could not possibly identify as his way of being. Let alone a biological woman.

And seems that no one really cares about the theoretical issues we,
transphobic people, have in accepting such views. We're just that. And problem
is if our daughters or sons will come one day saying they're transgender, they
will have no arguments, but just hurt feelings and the requirement to accept
them as they are, or believe to be. We, as parents, may do so out of love. But
others will not. And we, as parents, will have to accept the high risk of
suicide for a view that has no sane arguments behind.

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pjc50
> And we, as parents, will have to accept the high risk of suicide for a view
> that has no sane arguments behind.

This is a risk of depression as well, and refusing to accept that someone is
depressed does not make them any less likely to commit suicide.

~~~
yipopov
> refusing to accept that someone is depressed

The depression is not what's being contested. The claim that they belong to
the opposite sex just because they say so is what's being contested.

