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I have always found this subtopic to be interesting. My perhaps optimistic musing has been that a species sufficiently advanced to compare to humans as humans c
by rue 17y ago
I have always found this subtopic to be interesting. My perhaps optimistic musing has been that a species sufficiently advanced to compare to humans as humans compare to dolphins would also have some way of measuring/estimating/scoring the level of consciousness (for want of a better term) of a lower species, which seems close to your thinking.
- DanielBMarkham 17y agoThe interesting thing is that traditionally such distinctions have been religious, not scientific. That is, it was religion that eventually persuaded western civilization that all humans deserve to be treated equally, not some sort of logical or ethical argument. If true, that leads me to think that we'll need some sort of version 2.0 of some of the major religions that deal with varying levels of sentience. This will probably happen after contact and not before, so it should be a very traumatic event for everybody concerned.