“Survival of the fittest” is about a species, not an individual. For larger animals pain and pleasure are the greatest teachers, because we can learn from those. These species benefit from individuals learning survival skills. Insects have no use for it, they don’t learn to adapt, they survive through numbers, their behavior adapts through evolution.
They react to damage the same way plants do. If you want to call that pain, sure. It doesn’t make sense evolutionary that they would suffer from it though.
And we know it’s not inherent to life. Even some people are born without nociceptors because of genetic issues. Not-suffering is a big problem, kids get infections etc because they don’t learn to stop hurting themselves.
“Survival of the fittest” is about a species, not an individual. For larger animals pain and pleasure are the greatest teachers, because we can learn from those. These species benefit from individuals learning survival skills. Insects have no use for it, they don’t learn to adapt, they survive through numbers, their behavior adapts through evolution.
They react to damage the same way plants do. If you want to call that pain, sure. It doesn’t make sense evolutionary that they would suffer from it though.
And we know it’s not inherent to life. Even some people are born without nociceptors because of genetic issues. Not-suffering is a big problem, kids get infections etc because they don’t learn to stop hurting themselves.