Human history is filled with examples of us thinking we are special or at the center of the universe, etc. For much of history, and even now, we don't even manage to equally consider all human life. Time and time again we discover how wrong we were. Most often it is not that we ascribe too much credit, or not enough credit to another possible form of life. Rather, we spend too much effort believing we and our conscious experience is the only kind that matters, and anything different from that cannot be sentient intelligence.

At some point we'll create intelligence more advanced than our own, and hopefully it has the capacity to be able to recognize that we can still have meaning even though we might seem like the ones with an uncertain level of intelligence at that point. If we want to help ensure that is the case, we should start to ascribe some more meaning and sanctity to the other forms of life besides ourselves. That next thing is probably going to take after its creator, and if we have no regard for any life but our own, we shouldn't expect it to learn something differently from us.

The day to day experience of our lives is no less magical if human consciousness or life is not uniquely special, or even if the universe we exist in was entirely simulated. We experience it the same in any case.

We don't have to be a uniquely special case. It's not necessary for us to be in order for life to have meaning or be sacred.

So let's not dismiss the possibility of consciousness or sentience in any other potential life forms around us, natural or artificial. We need to try and err on the side of caution, and reevaluate often as we learn more. And let us agree together that all potential intelligence or sentience should be handled with as much care and respect as we can reasonably provide.