For what is worth, here are the results of a survey that Vallinder and I circulated recently. 85% of expert respondents, and 89% of LessWrong respondents, believe that there is at least a 1% chance that insects are sentient, and 77% of experts and 69% of LessWrongers believe there is at least a 20% chance that they are sentient.
For what is worth, here are the results of a survey that Vallinder and I circulated recently. 85% of expert respondents, and 89% of LessWrong respondents, believe that there is at least a 1% chance that insects are sentient, and 77% of experts and 69% of LessWrongers believe there is at least a 20% chance that they are sentient.
Very interesting. What were they experts in? And how many people responded?
They were experts in pain perception and related fields. We sent the survey to about 25 people, of whom 13 responded.
Added (6 November, 2015): If there is interest, I can reconstruct the list of experts we contacted. Just let me know.