Comment by Ukv

> > > Reasoning and consciousness are seperate(sic) concepts

> No, they're not. But, in tech, we seem to have a culture of severing the humanities for utilitarian purposes [...] It's only meaningless if you don't know what the philosophical or epistemological definitions of reasoning are.

As far as I'm aware, in philosophy they'd generally be considered different concepts with no consensus on whether or not one requires the other. I don't think it can be appealed to as if it's a settled matter.

Personally I think people put "learning", "reasoning", "memory", etc. on a bit too much of a pedestal. I'm fine with saying, for instance, that if something changes to refine its future behavior in response to its experiences (touch hot stove, get hurt, avoid in future) beyond the immediate/direct effect (withdrawing hand) then it can "learn" - even for small microorganisms.