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Comment by virgildotcodes | Hacker News Reader

> recent work in animal communication

Worth noting that this is an invisibly small part of the sum total of our global efforts, especially versus the much more tangible effort we put into enslaving and slaughtering them, then mangling their carcasses for our own uses as we drive more and more of them to extinction.

We simply don't care about anything beyond ourselves and even there it breaks down on closer analysis when we see how many within our species don't truly value the collective whole beyond themselves.

It's just atoms all the way down.

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> enslaving and slaughtering them, then mangling their carcasses for our own uses as we drive more and more of them to extinction.

I'm frankly offended by this mischaracterization of human-animal relationships. So called "slaves" like horses and dogs have been dearly beloved companions for centuries and actively seek our companionship too.

The animals we raise for slaughter are often mistreated, yes, but many humans treat them with respect; billions on billions are voluntarily spent to improve their condition. Despite our own needs, many people pay higher prices for animal products that involve better treatment of animals. And they are in no risk of extinction! Much to the contrary, their domestic variants would not exist if humans didn't raise and protect them.

> We simply don't care about anything beyond ourselves

Have you seen modern westerners with their dogs??

I think you’re splitting hairs. The OP’s analogy works well.

If we end up in a future where AIs have as much concern for our welfare as we have for the welfare of the average animal (not the minuscule percentage of domesticated dogs, but the overwhelming majority of factory-farmed or simply driven to extinction), then I doubt you would consider it a “mischaracterization” to say that the whole AI thing did not work out to our advantage.

Bringing up “modern Westerners with their dogs” as a counterexample is almost self-parody.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not rooting for a "human zoo" future. I very much like being the dominant species on earth.

It would be absurd to claim that all animals live some sort of charmed life due to humans.

But saying that animals (especially those most similar to us like intelligent mammals) are nothing more than "atoms" to humans is equally absurd.

I don't think the analogy worked. It contained giant axes, and a giant grinder, and the OP shoehorned both into an unrelated discussion about math.

> The animals we raise for slaughter are often mistreated

"Often mistreated". Dude, they are held in tiny cages injected with hormones and what not till we kill them so we can have a big mac. It's very hard to argue we do any of this for nutrition reasons, we do it because we like the taste of burgers and roast.

The problem is not that AIs will somehow treat people badly, it's that they'll be controlled by humans who will treat other people badly using AI as a tool.

Atoms are a lie.

So it's lies all the way down?

I had suspected...

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