This article contains references to studies and talks that have only become more relevant as we continue to approach machines that appear to be alive (Large Lan

This article contains references to studies and talks that have only become more relevant as we continue to approach machines that appear to be alive (Large Language Models). I agree with Kate Darling that we need to provide protections for things that appear to be alive, not for their sake, but for ours. To that end, I think I agree with Thomas Metzinger that we should stop trying to create intelligent machines. But he doesn't want to increase suffering, whereas I want to avoid even the question of distinguishing the appearance of life/suffering from some "true" life/suffering. I believe any distinction between the two will lead to a regression in the rights and moral considerations of humans and animals that have been established over the past 200+ years.