Should dogs be made citizens?

Is it just me, or has the world gone barking mad?

I see what you did there.

I feel that, only humans can be citizens of any nation because citizenship and laws are a strictly human concept. It follows then that laws and regulations regarding the treatment of other, lesser species, which have no concept of such things, must then not be for their welfare but for our own sake, to deter us from mistreating animals, as opposed to protecting them from our mistreatment. I believe the basic foundation of laws is to demonstrate to us humans how much we can err, that we need someone to write it down for us lest we forget. I love my dog, but as far as I know, she is incapable of understanding that she can make mistakes. She does what she does based on an instinctual risk-reward basis, not because she knows right from wrong. To be a citizen requires a higher authority be in place to dispense citizenship, meaning laws must be written so that the authority is recognized as such and that society can be managed. Dogs and cats have no seeming capacity of, or interest in, any of that.

Additionally, that we have domesticated animals is a reflection on us, not the animals. A human gets a pet for companionship and/or protection, things which a human can provide. That a human is with a pet as opposed to another human means that the first person cannot or will not have other humans fill the certain roles the pet takes on. It follows then that to improve the lives of animals, the lives of humans must first be improved.
 
I'd take dogs over some of those humans out there. Anytime. But a citizenship? I doubt that animals care about that. Its possible to treat them fairly without that, you know? We could stop with slaughtering them like mad. I personally think that animals are pretty much on a equal level as us as living beings, but thats just me talking (passionate vegeterian and animal friend here. Dont mind me.).
 
I'd take dogs over some of those humans out there. Anytime. But a citizenship? I doubt that animals care about that. Its possible to treat them fairly without that, you know? We could stop with slaughtering them like mad. I personally think that animals are pretty much on a equal level as us as living beings, but thats just me talking (passionate vegeterian and animal friend here. Dont mind me.).
I'm looking at all these avatars, and I'm wondering: how many of the forum members here are actually (non-human) animals??
 
I disagree with that. If we do manage to generate AI - it will quickly no longer be artificial. And what makes you see AI as weird and/or fantasy?

I don't think there's any good argument for AIs to be conscious unless someone is arguing from a Panpsychic perspective. Computation is something we attribute to physical systems, but they have no intrinsic intentionality - the meaning of a program is decided by a human user.
 
I don't think there's any good argument for AIs to be conscious unless someone is arguing from a Panpsychic perspective. Computation is something we attribute to physical systems, but they have no intrinsic intentionality - the meaning of a program is decided by a human user.
A full-fledged AI would have as much intentionality and decide it's own meaning. It would be sentient, an autonomous intelligence. Now whether that AI will be created by humans remains to be seen. But yeah, the term is used to mean other things - like the "intelligent" programs that you're referring to.
 
They are living beings? In that regard we are clearly not better as any animal out there. Im not talking about intellect here though.
Hmmm . . .I'd say creatures are as worthy and valid as humans. "Better" is of course subjective. In some ways many creatures are "better" than humans.
 
They're all better than you. You're worthless.
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Really? That's what you've got? You who claim that you like to "hurt people's feelings"? Maybe you woke up having fond memories of grade school.
 
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