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   Glyn Moody (glynmoody@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 30-Nov-2024 22:13:51 JST Glyn Moody

   How should we treat beings that might be sentient? - https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/11/how-should-we-treat-beings-that-might-be-sentient/ " always avoid inflicting gratuitous suffering on sentience candidates; take precautions when making decisions regarding a sentience candidate; and make proportional decisions about the care of sentience candidates that are “informed, democratic and inclusive.”

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     Leonardo Ferreira Fontenelle (lffontenelle@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 01-Dec-2024 03:28:44 JST Leonardo Ferreira Fontenelle

     in reply to

     • Mauricio Castro :escudoGalo:

     @glynmoody @mauriciobc Once I saw a biologist-turned-scifi-author argue octopuses are the closest we have to aliens — and we eat them. Perhaps we wouldn't eat them if they had a civilization (tools, buildings etc) but still we wouldn't set an embassy.

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     Glyn Moody (glynmoody@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 01-Dec-2024 07:23:31 JST Glyn Moody

     in reply to

     • Mauricio Castro :escudoGalo:
     • Leonardo Ferreira Fontenelle

     @lffontenelle yes, have to say I stopped eating them some years ago for similar reason; incredible creatures... @mauriciobc

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     Glyn Moody (glynmoody@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 01-Dec-2024 17:52:22 JST Glyn Moody

     in reply to

     • Fish Id Wardrobe

     @fishidwardrobe it's a precautionary principle...

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     Fish Id Wardrobe (fishidwardrobe@mastodon.me.uk)'s status on Sunday, 01-Dec-2024 17:52:23 JST Fish Id Wardrobe

     in reply to

     @glynmoody I note that the author has redefined "sentience" so that it applies to almost every animal. (Which is probably true for other definitions, too, actually; the word is misused).

     This neatly sidesteps the question that sprang into my head: WHY should we treat potentially sentient animals differently? To save embarrassment later? That doesn't seem ethical…

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     Glyn Moody (glynmoody@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 01-Dec-2024 19:26:24 JST Glyn Moody

     in reply to

     • Fish Id Wardrobe

     @fishidwardrobe a precaution against inflicting harm on sentient beings

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     Fish Id Wardrobe (fishidwardrobe@mastodon.me.uk)'s status on Sunday, 01-Dec-2024 19:26:26 JST Fish Id Wardrobe

     in reply to

     @glynmoody but a precaution against what? wouldn't it be more ethical to treat animals well regardless?

     Edit: regardless of the consequences to us, I mean?

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     Glyn Moody (glynmoody@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 01-Dec-2024 19:49:33 JST Glyn Moody

     in reply to

     • Fish Id Wardrobe

     @fishidwardrobe sure, we should try; this is looking at things from one perspective, I think

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     Fish Id Wardrobe (fishidwardrobe@mastodon.me.uk)'s status on Sunday, 01-Dec-2024 19:49:34 JST Fish Id Wardrobe

     in reply to

     @glynmoody we do that all the time, though.
     edit: I mean — if we had a good record as a species at not harming *because sentient*, we'd not be whaling on each other, and it might make sense to extend that to potentially sentient others.

     But we don't.

     And I'd still argue that it would be better if we did the best we can by everything around us, sentient or not.

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     Glyn Moody (glynmoody@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 02:25:43 JST Glyn Moody

     in reply to

     • gio

     @stevegio me too; everyone should...

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     gio (stevegio@gardenstate.social)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 02:25:44 JST gio

     in reply to

     @glynmoody I gave up eating octopus.