Awareness
Scientists have recently released data which seems to suggest that elephants have passed the "mirror" test, meaning they have self-awareness. To the best of our knowledge, they join only the ranks of humans, chimpanzees, and -to some extent, at least- dolphins in that achievement. You can read the article here.Most animals see their reflection and instantly think that the creature peering back at them is another animal. Which leads to the countless videos on "America's Funniest Home Videos" of the puppy barking at the mirror.
The test basically involves putting a mark on the creature which can only be seen by looking into a mirror. When the animal looks into the mirror, it touches the mark. The elephants went even farther- one of them peered into their mouth and another used its trunk to stretch out and peer inside its ear. None of the elephants displayed social behavior, which would seem to suggest that they knew the reflection wasn't another elephant.
I don't know why I find this stuff interesting, but I do. There's something mystical about the fact that an elephant realizes it's an elephant.
Scientists speculate that the self-awareness is what is responsible for the social complexity present among the pachyderms. It also helps explain their altruistic behavior and sense of uncanny empathy. Without a sense of self-identity, you cannot grasp the concept that others have a self-identity. And without that concept, there's no reason to care about the well-being of another living thing. Life is merely something to be survived.
Hmm. I wonder if our society could be responsible for the dilution of the personal identity? If somehow the omnipresent spectre of technology doesn't leech into our beings, until we're not sure where the soul ends and the LCD screen begins? And, as we all fall into the futuristic soup, we're hellbent on taking other people with us? Because if we feel like our life has no meaning, perhaps no one else's life does either?
