From: Joseph 1 (neohuman@goldenfuture.net)
Date: Mon Apr 29 2002 - 18:52:10 MDT
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-extropians@extropy.org
> [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.org]On Behalf Of Samantha Atkins
> Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 5:47 PM
>
> Human infants go through considerable effort to acheive the same
> results and any parent knows that the adult participation in
> such learning is not effortless either.
As the father of a 12-month-old who is going through the rudiments of
language development, I can wholeheartedly agree with you here.
> The point though is that these creatures are close enough to
> sentient levels we consider as possessing rights that it is at
> least questionable that we treat them often so poorly.
I disagree. If what you say is true (and I do not believe the case is made,
based on the available evidence), then they do in fact represent a threat to
Human dominance. A long term threat, granted, but no less a threat than the
Neanderthals posed.
As an avowed anthropocentrist, I see no need to advance the interests of
potential rivals. (As an aside, the same goes for AI, but that's a different
thread.)
> If a
> chimp can communicate at the level of a three-year-old then it
> is a prove of its sentience and thus a call for not abusing such
> creatures. That it does not have to have the potential of
> growing into a full adult human equivalent does not justify
> disallowing any rights at all.
Again, I disagree. "Rights", as such, are merely conventions that exist
according to the fashion of the day. They ebb and they wane, and the mere
fact that we can speak of creating new "rights" demonstrates that they are
not really existential at all-- they stem not from some "creator", but from
the societies in which they are formulated.
Thus, the decision to create a particular right (or extend certain rights to
certain beings) need not be "justified". It merely need be made and agreed
upon. Merely because chimps are cute and can mimick certain human behaviors
is no reason to extend to them human rights. They are resources, and as such
we as a species can and should use them for our own benefit.
Joseph
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