Lars

On the grounds that we would put down a sick animal out of mercy, I would answer yes to both questions.

In this case, there would be a loss of scientific knowledge we could gain through studying the planet’s life.  This would be regrettable.

Q1: Assuming they love “freedom” and freedom of choice, I’d ask them to take a poll, first… secretly if necessary to not get caught by authorities they could be afraid of offending or inciting. (I think like this, e.g. in case theocratic nation sometimes gives me the opportunity to free them.)

Q2: That one’s tougher, like the trolly car c…[Read more]

Davis wrote:
Oh dear. It seems my reply also disappeared.

LOL, I’ve come late to the spam party. Awesome to see this happen.

Yes indeed unseen. I should have said “intelligent” and/or “self-aware”.

Thank you Kristina for actually answering the question. I particularly like:

the preservation of life doesn’t, on its own, trump reduction in suffering

Davis wrote:
There is zero possibility they will ever evolve sentience (or develop beyond a planet of suffering creatures).

I’m a little puzzled. How do these creatures suffer at all if, indeed, they have yet to evolve sentience, given that “sentience” means “the capacity to feel, perceive, or experience subjectively” (from Wikipedia)?

Perhaps…[Read more]

My first inclination is to object to some of the premises because that’s the sort of person I am. However, given the variables in place:

Q1: Would I?
Yes, in this hypothetical scenario. The chief consideration is that the preservation of life doesn’t, on its own, trump reduction in suffering.

Q2: Would resource benefits at the expense of the…[Read more]

Oh dear. It seems my reply also disappeared.

Pleasure is part of the tool box that has emerged in Earthly evolution as an aid to natural selection. For non-sentient beings I don’t think pleasure and pain are particularly balanced they both play different roles in natural selection. But there is no reason why pleasure MUST be a part of evolution.…[Read more]

@davis, you removed my entire reply lol.

Is not “suffering less” equivalent to “pleasure”?  Pleasure is a motivator because it indicates moving towards fitness benefits.

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We’ll stay divided for a while, at least.

Just grabbed this screenshot from PBS of Biden vs Trump supporters, from an AP survey question “Is the virus somewhat under control or not at all under control“. (I verified they mistakenly left the word “at” out. See the whole poll here.)

Meanwhile Biden’s already said he’s set to pull together…[Read more]

Now that Biden says he’s going to get a national strategy going on beating Covid-19, including improved testing, I have more to contribute to this end. Canada recently approved an approach to rapid testing, and the following link goes straight to that topic lasting only 4-1/2 minutes, or longer if you’re interested in more detail. Btw I have…[Read more]

Been replaying the classic Sonic games lately.