system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Do caterpillars know that they are going to become a butterfly? If so, how?
gpt
It's a common mistake that people sometimes make to try to apply human levels of intelligence to insects.

Insects are not self-aware. A caterpillar does not even know that it is a caterpillar. It is aware of the general shape of the surface it's on, and it feels hungry around things it can eat. 

That's really the extent of it's cognitive powers - it doesn't know things like how much it's eaten recently, or if there are usually predators in an area. And it certainly doesn't know what's going to happen to it after it's done with it's metamorphosis.