It's essentially galvanization, which I imagine most people are familiar with. There was that fella named Galvani who used to electrocute dead frogs to make them twitch a couple of centuries ago. Naturally that kind of black magic caused quite a buzz back then.
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Serious questions: So, if it's "just the nervous system reacting," what does that mean exactly? How do you know that it doesn't feel pain? Simply because it has no brain to tell it's body that it hurts?
Even insects are capable of feeling pain despite lacking a complex nervous system, but pain is not the same thing as suffering. Pain is just a sensory experience, like sight, temperature, hearing, etc.. Certain squid consist of some of the most intelligent species in the animal kingdom, which is probably new to no one.
That said, I sort of doubt that any animals are capable of suffering the way it is conceived of by humans. There's seemingly an exceptional amount of intelligence and working memory required to attain sentience, which is critical to the development of identity. Essentially, imagine if you were in crippling pain, but slept right through it. Or liken it to the experiences where you felt immense pain as an infant (which you surely don't recall at all).
To suffer, something must be able to recognize that it has an identity, that said identity is in peril, and it must be able to emote that realization. Couple that with even the fact that even the brightest animals would be considered profoundly retarded by human standards, and I wouldn't worry myself with their feelings. Those are my conclusions, at least.
Aren't you a pediatrician, or something? You probably stab little kids every day, right?
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