Have you ever put a mollusk in boiling water on the stove?  They indeed have
feelings, if their reaction is any indication.

Sylvia Edwards
Huntsville, AL

----- Original Message -----
From: "William Corey" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2002 12:30 AM
Subject: Mollusks and Feelings...


> Interesting question.  This is posed as a philosophical question about
which
> we may speculate, and it is just as well, as we cannot know this for
certain.
>  Perhaps one day, someone will figure out a way to graph the electrical
> activity in a neural pathways within the primitive molluscan nervous
system
> and compare it to the pain response in higher animals and then, one could
> postulate a pain response.
>          Since we cannot know for sure, those who find this to be a
> tantalizing puzzle may freely philosophize.  As for me, I think that
Mollusks
> probably do sense something as they do respond to predatory threats and
> irritations, but, it is possible that as their capacity for thought (as
far
> as we know!) is limited, perhaps their experience of pain is not as
intense
> as with other higher animals with more complicated nervous systems.
>         One thing we may agree on: Life Loves to Live....and will do
> everything possible to fulfill its innate sense of this essential
Instinct.
>