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[–] 24 points 16 hours ago (12 children)

our biggest challenge will be accepting we’re not the only intelligent beings

But it isn't challenging at all. All animals have some level of intelligence. Some of them even rather comparable to us. And the probability of existence of some aliens doesn't sound too crazy, they might be quite clever too. See no problem in acceptance here.

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  • [–] 4 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

    That's extremely challenging for a lot of people. A lot of people aren't even willing to accept animals experience pain.

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  • [–] 4 points 12 hours ago (1 child)

    Are you sure? Most probably those people don't care about their pain, not denying that it is registered by the animal's brain.

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  • [–] 3 points 12 hours ago*

    Absolutely. I used the word "experience" and not "feel" intentionally here. People who raise and kill animals for a living try to think of animals like meat robots, they want to believe pain is just something animals sense rather than a subjective experience.

    Sometimes, they successfully fool themselves so they don't have to feel bad for the animals they hurt and kill. Other times they develop all sorts of disorders and addictions. Sometimes they kill themselves.

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  • [–] 6 points 16 hours ago* (4 children)

    See no problem in acceptance here.

    Mice? Super intelligent ones?

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  • [–] 4 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

    I read some popular-science paper where they claimed that mice even have friends. That demands some nontrivial intelligence I think.

    Super intelligent

    But I suppose Trump is somewhat cleverer than a mouse.

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  • [–] 9 points 16 hours ago* (2 children)

    I read some popular-science paper

    The mice that I was thinking about have been researched by the famous Douglas Adams, and they were by far the most intelligent beings on this planet, as long as they stayed here.

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  • [–] -1 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

    Oh the people with jobs in peril, they are definitely in a state of denial about the state of AI. It’s easier to accept when your survival doesn’t depend on your ability to think and do things.

    On a funnier note the people who believe they are genetically superior to others and naturally smarter, those people probably won’t accept this at all

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