It’s wild to see people spend real time and energy contemplating what to do if an AI is sentient and no time contemplating what we do to indisputably sentient beings like cows, dogs, monkeys, cats, chickens, and mice. #AnimalRights
@D_J_Nathanson "Sentience" means something different with AI, though; something closer to "self-awareness" or "sapience". Apparently due to the misuse of the word by scifi writers.
Were any of those animals capable of that definition of sentience, people might care more. Until then, they're just another part of the food chain.
(Also: chickens, really? How are those pea-brained ground-peckers sentient? I thought they operated purely on instinct.)
@LouisIngenthron Putting aside your obvious attempt to provoke, are you saying you think monkeys are not self-aware?
@D_J_Nathanson I'm no expert in that subject, so I have no way of knowing for sure.
But, humans are the only species we *know* to be self-aware, so it stands to reason that closely-related apes would be the most likely candidates to share that property, and it would get less likely the further away you got on the evolutionary tree.
I am pretty confident in saying, based on personal interactions, that the cats and dogs I've met and cared for are not self-aware.
@LouisIngenthron I would hate to be your dog. You are wrong. Enjoy your life.