system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Are insects still "alive" or "conscious" if they are infected with a parasite?

Specifically a Horsehair Worm in a Preying Mantis. Does the insect have any voluntary control or is it just a puppet for the host?
gpt
It really depends on what you mean by 'conscious.'  Yes, it's alive.  Horsehair worms use chemicals (possibly ones that mimic other insects' pheromones to guide the insect around, it's not fully understood) to influence the host's brain and make it do what it wants, usually jumping into water to release the worm.

It's not like the worm is physically manipulating its body like a puppet, so it's alive.  Does it have voluntary control?  Is it conscious?  Was it ever?  Insects have very simple neurology.  It's a biological machine acting on instructions embedded in its neural makeup and the parasite is introducing chemicals that alter those instructions.  More like driving a car than hijacking someone's brain, though keep in mind the worm isn't any more aware of what it's doing than the bug is.  The worm is just releasing chemicals according to instructions embedded in even simpler neurology.