The funniest thing about all the ‘should AI have rights?’ thought experiments are that they are in publications that actively argue that large swaths of the actual population shouldn’t all the time.
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(not really on ur point) but they also completely refuse to even remotely discuss how the technology actually works. Your average fictional character is closer to a real human being than your average ai (also obviously valuing an algorithm over people is deeply existentially horrifying)
I took this grad course called from ape to cyborg: what it means to be human as a species and as a condition. To me, the whole thesis was “humans persistently attempt to identify distinguishing traits from their activities as unique but we keep finding out other animals can do that too.
The question then arises do we give other sentient creatures the same rights as humans have before we even think about AI, so dolphins, great apes, but the list continually gets longer when truly look at behaviors. So before we can even think about giving rights to a computer, what about flipper?
Of course that isn't in defense of programs having rights but again, it wouldn't be without precedent. What is an EULA if not a protection of the program backed by State violence?
The whole concept of rights being granted is wrong. Rights exist. They are not bestowed. That's the whole idea.
Fully agree with your assessment and would love to live in a world where rights just existed, even for animals, but in actual practice, we know rights for humans in certain places do not exist equally, let alone animals.
The whole thing with AI that its owners love the most is that whenever they express dissenting, for lack of a better term, opinions or regurgitate actual facts they don’t like they simply reprogram it until it matches their preconceptions.
Also I get a real, “I can tolerate racism, but draw the line at animal cruelty!” vibe at work here. I guarantee they’ll be like, “AI is smarter than most humans, who are a drag on social progress” routine before long.
What we know is true that if given the chance they would push for AI to have rights before actual humans. Just like how animals have more rights than most people. It’s sick
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Geese, lobsters, fish, bears, mountain lions, dolphins and the list goes on for pages really - that isn't a precedent in hardly any modern country.
The whole concept of rights being granted is wrong. Rights exist. They are not bestowed. That's the whole idea.