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Hard disagreement, if something can feel pain and suffering then we should be striving to overcome the need to inflict that on them.

Also, just because we don't "owe" it to them doesn't mean we shouldn't. Being nice or doing good in the world isn't something that should be earned by the recipients, it should be the default for how we treat each other if we're REALLY trying to progress and move forward as sentient beings.

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> it should be the default for how we treat each other

What should be included in the set of "each other"? You're suggesting we include entities that are totally amoral, who happily destroy other sentient beings in the most painful ways, and who are incapable of reform. There is no imaginable social contract that could possibly include such monsters.

Surely there must be some element of symmetry as a condition of such a set membership. It's implied by the very phrase "each other".

I think trying to figure that out is the exciting part, and I'd prefer to err on the side of generosity.

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