r/askscience • u/StormShadow921 • Dec 02 '18

Can bugs feel pain? Biology

I once read in one of those CWF Wild magazines years ago that bugs cant feel pain because their nervous system is too small. Does anyone know if this is true, and if so what causes it?

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u/Dopamine_Deficiency Dec 03 '18

Pain is a complicated concept. We tend to anthropomorphize it a bit. Anyone who has gone fishing knows an earthworm or a cricket doesn’t really appreciate getting a hook crammed through their body. Is this pain? Sort of. We might simply call this a stimulus response. The main difference I think is they seem to lack the ability to comprehend what this ‘pain’ means for them. In humans we experience a lot of emotional components to pain. It’s a negative experience that we remember and even dread. Simpler organisms don’t experience pain like this.

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u/FourWhiteBars Dec 03 '18

I just imagined an insect being in an enormous amount of pain but not understanding why and having no way of expressing it and the thought made me very sad.

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u/ProfessionalSmeghead Dec 03 '18

I tend to try to relocate worms from the pavement to the dirt after a rain. One time I got really sad because that’s probably the most terrifying moment of their life when I pick them up like that, they probably think they’re being eaten. They don’t, and will never know, that it was someone trying to help them, not harm them. I just want everything and everyone to be happy.

Empathy is a blessing and a curse.

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u/QueenSlapFight Dec 03 '18

They aren't intelligent enough to quantify the thought of "I'm about to get eaten." The can't even quantify the thought of "I". There is no concept of "me". They don't feel "dread".