>Few of us can empathize with species we regard as inferior.
The large numbers of people who support animal rights would beg to differ. Plus, there's the whole category of domesticated animals many, many people arrange their lives around.
Perhaps the greatest superintelligence risk to humanity is not something that resembles a human but rather a supercute Cockapoo.
Cuteness is a huge factor. Few people care about anglerfishes, while panda babies in a zoo are big news.
As i understand it cuteness response is based on neotenic features, i.e. identifying and protecting babies.
So maybe some people just wish to protect animals that happen to match patterns that we associate with our own species and not necessarily because they value an intact ecosystem.
The large numbers of people who support animal rights would beg to differ. Plus, there's the whole category of domesticated animals many, many people arrange their lives around.
Perhaps the greatest superintelligence risk to humanity is not something that resembles a human but rather a supercute Cockapoo.