Sorry if my question was weird.
And no, I am not some human’s pet that just became intelligent and took over their Lemmy account. 😺
Sorry if my question was weird.
And no, I am not some human’s pet that just became intelligent and took over their Lemmy account. 😺
They will probably be their own nation with their own laws on what is fair and what is not based on their values. I assume a new sentient specie will not have the same views and values as humans.
It’s an interesting idea. If they always were intelligent, then yes, they’d probably have their own nation, or maybe they’d even be integrated with us in a society that accommodates for both of our form factors, but I’m sure there’d be terrible racism concerns because if we’re this bad to people who look relatively similar to each other, then we’d be just terrible to a very different intelligent race.
But, if they suddenly became sentient through some sci Fi artifact or event, that’d be a whole other thing, and the process and debate of giving them rights and what to do about it would be complex and an ethical minefield on what to do or don’t do. Probably planet of the apes. But with cats and dogs.
They’ll be persecuted and discriminated
I mostly agree with the comment, however, mammals are sentient. Our current laws are massively influenced by us not really understanding them and by ideas such as non-humans essentially being “living machines”, created as servants to humanity.
Other mammals are sentient, but not sapient so far as we know, with the possible exception of some species of dolphins and whales, but this has yet to be proven. (It is pretty much proven that apes, monkeys, etc are not sapient)
What’s they key distinguisher of sapience? There are different measures, but “theory of mind” is the one that seems most relevant. The ability to think about what someone else is thinking. This seems to correlate also with the ability to ask questions and tell stories, and we currently know of no other being besides humans that can do either— again, research into dolphins and whales continues, and there might be potential there, but we’re pretty darn certain nothing on land has it.
They are already sentient but have not the intelligence of a average developed human. Pigs for example are sentient but their intelligence is like that of a 3 year old human.
I knew how to read some words at 3 years old
killing pigs feels wrong
Of course it feels wrong, they’re living creatures. We should develop lab meat as a priority, but for now they must use hormones from cow fetuses to make it grow, which kind of defeats the purpose…
Lab meat would only benefit first world countries. The others would have to pay fortunes for licensing the techniques, and that’s if the developing countries ever get to the point where they can use the process.
Of course, that’s why we must opensource the research. But first we need to get rid of the need for fetal bovine serum, which is exactly what you think it is.
You’re funny if you think that will ever happen. No 1st world country will miss the chance to foster the economic dependency of developing nations.
All animals are sentient. Smarts/intelligence is what varies. We got the most of the smarts that we know of.
So those who remain in their country of origin, during the first waves of this development, would surely have to be given he right to vote etc?