<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">While the great apes are near enough genetically that I believe they should not be abused in any way it is sheer nonsense to claim they are equals or that they have the same rights as human beings. <DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I don't see the point in strutting about regarding uplift of various animals when the very survival much less uplift of humanity is far from in the bag. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>- samantha</DIV><DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Apr 27, 2006, at 7:19 AM, A B wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV>Hi James,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I strongly agree. Reducing or eliminating animal suffering should be a high</DIV> <DIV>priority post-Singularity. My view on this might seem extreme, but I would recommend</DIV> <DIV>safely enhancing animals to be roughly on par with human intelligence (I suppose some instincts will need to be tweeked), and beyond if that is their choice. In my</DIV> <DIV>opinion, after million(s) of years of supporting (proto)humans in various painful ways, we owe them a favor.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Best Wishes,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Jeffrey Herrlich<BR><BR><B><I>"Hughes, James J." <<A href="mailto:james.hughes@trincoll.edu">james.hughes@trincoll.edu</A>></I></B> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class="replbq" style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"><BR>I may not be as radical as George Dvorsky but I am a great supporter of<BR>Great Ape rights. I see the move to non-anthropocentric personhood<BR>rights as a central agenda item for transhumanism, one of its defining<BR>ideas along with human enhancement technologies. The debate needs to be<BR>how far beyond humans we grant rights/moral-standing, not whether we<BR>transcend human-racism or not. - J. Hughes<BR><BR><A href="http://www.spainherald.com/3438.html">http://www.spainherald.com/3438.html</A><BR><BR>Socialists: Give apes human rights<BR><BR>Spain Herald<BR><BR>The Spanish Socialist Party will introduce a bill in the Congress of<BR>Deputies calling for "the immediate inclusion of (simians) in the<BR>category of persons, and that they be given the moral and legal<BR>protection that currently are only enjoyed by human beings." The PSOE's<BR>justification is that humans share 98.4% of our genes with chimpanzees,<BR>97.7% with gorillas, and 96.4% with orangutans.<BR><BR>The party will announce its Great Ape Project at a press conference<BR>tomorrow. An organization with the same name is seeking a UN declaration<BR>on simian rights which would defend ape interests "the same as those of<BR>minors and the mentally handicapped of our species."<BR><BR>According to the Project, "Today only members of the species Homo<BR>sapiens are considered part of the community of equals. The chimpanzee,<BR>the gorilla, and the orangutan are our species's closest relatives. They<BR>possess sufficient mental faculties and emotional life to justify their<BR>inclusion in the community of equals." <BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>extropy-chat mailing list<BR>extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org<BR>http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><DIV> <BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><HR size="1">Yahoo! Mail goes everywhere you do. <A href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=31132/*http://mobile.yahoo.com/services?promote=mail"> Get it on your phone</A>.<DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">extropy-chat mailing list</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat">http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat</A></DIV> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>