[Cheer2171]

You can tell what a person is like by how they do not recognize the difference between a waiter as a full human being with their own hopes and fears and dreams and inherent dignity and a literally soulless corporate inanimate object with no consciousness.

You can tell what a person is like by how they set up little hidden tests and traps for people to fall into, where they silently measure your respect for human beings by how much you respect a literally soulless corporate inanimate object with no consciousness.

You don't need to thank your compiler.

[hwbehrens]

> a full human being

If I can indulge in a bit of what-aboutism to promote discussion, how would you classify animals? Do they deserve respect, and if so, what characteristic qualifies them?

If such a characteristic (e.g. the ability to feel fear/pain) could be programmed into a model, would that be ethical? Would it change the expectations for appropriate treatment of such a model?

I'm genuinely curious about HN's thoughts on this.

[asadotzler]

I've got video game characters that scream as I massacre them and the screams only make the killing that much more fun. If it's software it's a machine and I'm fine doing whatever to it.

[croo]

You can program a robot to scream in agony each time you hit it. That does not mean it became something that feels pain.