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lelanthranyesterday at 12:57 PM1 replyview on HN

> Dogs and livestock are conscious, we use those as tools.

Sure, but we don't create as many as we can, then kill them at the end of the day when the work is done.

If you want to call AIs conscious, you can't also campaign for willy-nilly creation, even if they do get a status of a working tool (dogs, etc).

If you think they are conscious, which implies laws protecting them, then the "owner" of them gets an obligation (you can't do whatever you want to a dog, for example).


Replies

wvenableyesterday at 8:05 PM

> Sure, but we don't create as many as we can, then kill them at the end of the day when the work is done.

So it's a matter of scale then? We breed pigs, for example, and kill them a mere fraction into their overall lifespan. So it's ok as long as we don't kill them faster?

> If you want to call AIs conscious, you can't also campaign for willy-nilly creation, even if they do get a status of a working tool (dogs, etc).

I don't see why this follows? Humans also exist for a period and then blink out of existence. Why does the timeframe matter? Our end was inevitable at the moment of our creation.

> If you think they are conscious, which implies laws protecting them

You're conflating conscious with personhood. Clearly in a future where you can create a conscious entity instantly and terminate it just as quickly these entities are unlikely to qualify for personhood.