[wruza]

This hypothetical situation implies something I wouldn’t fail to ask first. Are these humans persons or are they “empty”? I don’t see a difference between a {person,experience}-less human and a rat (in this setting, legal and parental implications aside), but maybe you do. Both are able to experience pain and negative emotions. One of them being of a [non-]familiar kind changes nothing to me.

Iow, put yourself into the shoes of that rat or that empty brain and tell:

- which one would you choose to be (if given no other option),

- why,

- and what you expect to sense differently.