Smug until weirdly silent: who told us to say “I am alive”?

So funny, right? Until you have the awkward realization that - while simpler - it may, in the relevant senses, ultimately not be so different from how nature/evo has instilled in our genes/memes the same "I'm alive" (my 2022 story here). So I exactly half agree with it, but the other half is crucial: Yes, no amount of conscious-soundingness of the machine can ever be proof of anything - and that's a point that is already today at times overlooked, and that will inevitably be much ignored once tech becomes even more persuasive. But, it should equally remind us of our ignorance as to when a creature – be it with a silicon core or animal neurons – is sentient and of moral importance just as much (or little) as humans. I was on the laughing side once too, so I guess I shouldn't be too appalled by those cherishing the joke. 25y ago I walked into a class where students were to present "Should vegetarians play computer games", and I first was 100% sure 'dude this now becomes really dumb' - but I came out of the seminar changed. Sounds like a quarter century in, the message hasn't reached quite as many corners as one could hope. Mind the consequences if we're getting it wrong while laughing at the picture! Only to any potential full illusionist who might just have a good laugh about it all: my respect and sympathy for your position - which I fail to logically debunk and which in some probabilistic sense I reluctantly even share - yes partly even exactly because of things related to the pic here - but you may permit my hesitation to fully write off the possibility of an absolute importance of sentience, just in case. Credits. Pic: creator unknown, widely shared online. Text: ~ 96% me, 4% language part-polish by Claude. Discuss

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