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Comment by hulitu | Hacker News Reader

" The reforms will be introduced through a series of bills, including an animal sentience bill, and will cover farm animals and pets in the UK ".

So only _some_ animals are sentient beings. If a cat is a pet she is sentient, if it's astray it is not.

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All animals are sentient but some are more sentient than others, I guess.

Some sentient animals can be sterilized and/or involuntarily euthanized.

Seems pretty lame if truly “sentient.”

Not sure what definition of sentience they are using as certainly none of these animals are truly sentient. Arguable primates, but arguing a cat is sentient is foolish.

It’s possible to assign greater protections on animals without fake labeling them through laws.

Are you confusing sentient with sapient? Cats are certainly sentient.

I think I was not understanding sentient correctly.

I thought sentient meant self-conscious, but according to Wikipedia [0] it just means aware. So “dumb animals” are sentient.

Thanks for the note, I’ve been misusing this for decades.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentience

The pigs are up to their old tricks again.

It is theorized that this is true in general. See "sentience quotient". All living things can be placed somewhere on this line and we can imagine entities that are more self-aware than humans.

I believe the distinction applies to pet animals as a category, not just individual animals that are pets.

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