Nathan J- I found these two articles from relatively good sources (Psych Today sometimes has questionable material imho)

http://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-green-mind/201412/are-plants-entering-the-realm-the-sentient
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-plants-think-daniel-chamovitz/

I understand 75% of our genes are similar to a pumpkin- if this is true we share some "attributes"- brain?? Stephen Wolfram discusses the concept of Universal Sampling. There is the concept of Panpsychism. Roger Penrose talks of Quantum Consciousness. Plant consciousness is an interesting but controversial area- I share Toni Lavis' caution.

Consciousness is one of the frontiers of science- but consciousness is different than thinking.

There are probably many ways to implement a neural network that are not anthropocentric.

I'll plead the Socrates defense- "I don't know".

Thanks for the interesting topic Nathan J.

We know the brain is built in layers reflecting different stages of life- worms, reptiles, mammals, primates, humans. Reptiles come from "Lung Fish" from memory. Reptiles seem to have flight/ fight; fear/ aggression- I suspect fish would have a similar brain functionality to reptiles- even worms seem to indicate an experience of pain.

How this relates to morality is uncertain- mankind are omnivores- their physiology seems to be finely tuned to their diet- vegetarians extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence- though perhaps paleo diets or similar contained less meat than contemporary diet- but our lives are different than Paleolithic people.

"Herding" creatures (whether land or water) seem to have different brains than "hunting" creatures.