It's time to consider the idea that insects, microbes, and even some future forms of artificial intelligence may deserve as much consideration as human beings because they might also have conscious experiences, like happiness and suffering.
The Case for Animal Rights,
that the idea of extending moral consideration to nonhuman animals became popularized in Western analytic philosophy. These days, we also have scientific evidence that animals canWe can’t be sure that bugs experience happiness or suffering . You may think the chances are pretty small. You likely think the chances are even smaller that organisms like microbes or artificial intelligence systems can have these or other feelings.
Of course, none of this means that we should abandon our human projects and spend our lives protecting microbes. For one thing, we don’t know how to measure or quantify subjective experience, and we can only guess at the likelihood that different creatures may be sentient. Crucially, not everyone agrees that “total” welfare is more important than “average” welfare.
If there’s not enough at stake on Earth with respect to these complex moral considerations, consider that there are
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