> From: Trent Waddington [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 7:44 AM, Matt Mahoney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > I mean that people are free to decide if others feel pain. For > example, a scientist may decide that a mouse does not feel pain when it > is stuck in the eye with a needle (the standard way to draw blood) even > though it squirms just like a human would. It is surprisingly easy to > modify one's ethics to feel this way, as proven by the Milgram > experiments and Nazi war crime trials. > > I'm sure you're not meaning to suggest that scientists commonly > rationalize in this way, nor that they are all Nazi war criminals for > experimenting on animals. > > I feel the need to remind people that "animal rights" is a fringe > movement that does not represent the views of the majority. We > experiment on animals because the benefits, to humans, are considered > worthwhile. >
I like animals. And I like the idea of coming up with cures to diseases and testing them on animals first. In college my "biologist" roommate protested the torture of fruit flies. My son has starting playing video games where you shoot, zapp and chemically immolate the opponent, so I need to explain to him that those bad guys are not conscious...yet. I don't know if there are guidelines. Humans, being the rulers of planet, appear as godlike beings to other conscious inhabitants. That brings responsibility. So when we start coming up with AI stuff in the lab that attains certain levels of consciousness we have to know what consciousness is in order to govern our behavior. And naturally if some superintelligent space alien or rogue interstellar AI encounters us and decides that we are a culinary delicacy and wants to grow us enmass economically, we hope that some respect is given eh? Reminds me of hearing that some farms are experimenting with growing chickens w/o heads. Animal rights may be more than just a fringe movement. Kind of like Mike - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken John ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=120640061-aded06 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
