The Shape of Things to Come

2 minute read. We used to say humans were the only conscious beings, so it didn't matter how we treated animals. In fact we even labeled many humans (slaves, native peoples, various foreign enemies) as animals, justifying their mistreatment as well. But running even deeper than the desire to have power over other beings is the desire to feel special ourselves - that our very nature puts us above someone or something.  We've been steadily widening our definitions as we have become more civil to more people and creatures. The more we study animals, the more we see ourselves - our brains are really not so different. Yet we feel comfortable with this broadening definition of consciousness because we smugly know that we humans still have more processing power. But now, along comes artificial intelligence.  Suddenly there is more talk of consciousness and specifically how artificial intelligence doesn't have it , but what terrible things it could mean if it were attained. Fundam