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Comment by mellosouls | Hacker News Reader

Speaking as a layman and aware of the tendency to anthropomorphise, nevertheless:

The time for animals of this cognitive and social level to be granted special protected rights and respect seems long overdue.

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Agreed. Look, the glaciers are disappearing, the Amazon rainforest has been lit on fire and almost eradicated by humans, and the climate radically altered. All because humans think they own the world and may do as they like with all of it, unilaterally. They don’t need to think about long term consequences because only their immediate needs matter. They don’t need to take any life into consideration other than themselves. They don’t even need to take humanity beyond their own person into account. It’s solipsism taken to a global, permanent scale because there are people who could unilaterally decide to end all life on earth as we know it through mass destruction.

It’s time to open the blinders.

Human level is just silly sophistry really even if though there should be some special protections for great apes such as minimal conditions, abolishing medical testing except for when they are outright patients to be aided, etc.

If it were truly human level rights bestiality laws would be unconstitutional in that context for one. Orangutans would be allowed to vote (only age, citizenship, and possible felon status are valid qualifiers and not mental competency), and we would arrest orangutans for committing crimes against organutans and allow them to face their accusers in court. To be found incompetent to stand trial would require special casing for every last incident.

I'm not advocating equivalent rights or status, and was careful not to phrase it that way.

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