[extropy-chat] Spanish Socialists considergivingapeshuman-level rights

[Hughes, James J.]

> Isn't this a bit fascist to force a species to upgrade and 
> achieve a higher intelligence.

I'm not talking about obligations to species, but to individual beings.

Is it fascist to make your kid eat spinach or go to school, even though
they don't want to?

No, in fact it is immoral not to make them do these things. Because they
do not yet have the capacity to decide for themselves whether they would
benefit. One of the reasons we have a moral obligation to make kids go
to school is so they will eventually become self-governing adults who
can make decisions for themselves.

The same logic applies to apes. 

In fact, although it has to be done so cautiously and with full
awareness of its previous imperialist abuses, it also applies to the
relations between advanced societies and simpler societies (see debate
over the benefits of colonialism and the Prime Directive etc.) One
example - the British outlawed the practice of widow-burning in India
and left them with a liberal democratic government, whereas before they
had widow-burning monarchies.

> I don't think you need to "uplift" any species until they are 
> capable of asking for it.

If a person is mentally retarded, and you have a cure, but they are
incapable of understanding or requesting the cure, what is your
obligation?

> You wouldn't support the idea of rounding up all the 85-IQers 
> and forceably making them geniuses, why apes?

People with IQs of 85 aren't considered retarded and can give meaningful
consent. Retardation is generally below 70, and many retarded adults
should still be treated as at least co-consenters with their caregivers.
But yes under a certain level of function I think it is will be our
obligation to provide cognitive therapy to a retarded person even if the
parent/guardian objects. Refusing to provide a cure for retardation to a
person in your care is morally the same as putting them that condition
to begin with, and society has an obligation to intervene.

------------------------
James Hughes Ph.D.
Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies 
http://ieet.org
Editor, Journal of Evolution and Technology
http://jetpress.org
Williams 229B, Trinity College
300 Summit St., Hartford CT 06106
(office) 860-297-2376 
director at ieet.org