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Are bacteria as sacred as people? Genuinely curious about how you think… I believe all life is sacred, but I guess I believe humans are moreso? Perhaps sentien
by gcr 3y ago
Are bacteria as sacred as people?
Genuinely curious about how you think… I believe all life is sacred, but I guess I believe humans are moreso? Perhaps sentience is some key ingredient…? Then again I would prefer a universe teeming with humans to a universal data center teeming with para-infinite copies of sentient AIs…
- twiss 3y agoI'm not sure. But, my impression is that the boundary of what we consider sentient life has been shifting for a while. For example, people used to think that fish don't feel pain, and so it's fine to catch and eat them. Now there seems to be some evidence that fish do feel pain. Of course, if there's a bacteria that's threatening to kill us, it might still be necessary for us to kill it, and that might even be objectively justifiable if the existence of humans is/becomes a positive influence on the preservation of other animals? Or, one could just argue, since it's difficult to decide which life is most "worthy", an aligned AI shouldn't interfere or decide on that.