But what does personhood really matter?
Pretend humans don't exist.
All other animals exist, but not humans.
Now what? Now there's no "Animal that evolved to use its intelligence to create advanced technology," and instead, most animals are basically even.
The rat runs, the cat sprints, the owl swoops, and the owl-eater readies its fangs.
All are roughly equal on the intelligence level, thus, to each other, all are people. Now it really is: "All who are lesser than me are my prey."
Personally, I stamp personhood on intelligent animals like cats, goats, cows, pigs, and other animals larger than cats, basically.
I can talk to a cat. I really can. I did just yesterday. I met a cat who was normally afraid of new people, and I charmed her within minutes, a thing most humans cannot do to an animal from a distance. I am just able to talk to cats fluently, and so I do.
I can see them as people, thus, I can communicate to them as equals. I can with most animals, including ducks even. I had a conversation with a duck once. I'm not crazy. This isn't woo, magic, or spookery. It's just a thing that I do, because I show good-will and a willingness to communicate with animals to animals.
Maybe it has something to do with me being a writer and philosopher. =p
Still, once I've talked fluently to animals, it's hard to think so little of them as many people seem to do. It's quite troublesome to me on a moral level, because I can't help but see animals as people.
All are roughly equal on the intelligence level
not true...as a scientist you undoubtedly know that crows and corvids in general are VERY intelligent. Research in seattle has shown that crows have language (two of them, a flock language and another language for all other crows) and can not only pass oral tradition to their children but thru several generations. Crows are tool makers to the third degree...they can make the tools to make the tools to make other tools to get the job done. No other animal can do that except for humans.
I wonder...Odin had two Ravens (corvids) named Huggin and Muggin...hmmmm?...
Corvids have been observed to be as smart as or smarter than some primates, possibly even the chimpanze. Pretty GOOD trick when you consider that their brains aren't much larger than your thumb...but they are WIRED differently.
But what does personhood really matter?
yup..personhood is ALL that matters. Non-persons are food. (vegetables are what food EATS)
Pretend humans don't exist
Since you are speaking of fantasy......what do you think of a dragon's propensity to hoard gold....Is it true that unicorns are partial to virgins? Why would that be?.
Or how about a hive-mind. I particularly like the way Vernor Vinge has addressed the concept in his Zone of thought series
I've raised animals..not one or two but quiet a few. During the eighties I raised Great Danes (to sell for pets...we had one who lived in the house with us), Hogs (NASTY animals...the only good thing about them is that they can be made into BACON, porkchops and sausauge) Turkeys (talk about STUPID), ducks( several varities..muskovies in particular...they take a step, take a shit...all reproductive acts are rape) chickens, geese, guinea fowl, sheep, cows, a pony (welsh stallion...talk about MEAN!) and goats (nubian milkers...not very bright either)
I drove a truck (owner operator heavy haul) for a quarter century, for the last few years, I had two cats ride with me.
(dogs have masters...cats have staff. I take care of Bubba and LeRoy...if I fall down on the job they let me know.)
I'm convinced that there is something happening inside those little minds. I live with them 24/7 and I have since they were tiny kittens. Bubba and LeRoy (and Squeaky and Meeko...my wife's cats) are part of my monkeysphere. They are US...all other cats are THEM.
I treat US differently than THEM...you do too...every human does if they are honest with themselves.( if it's US or THEM...i'm going to do my damndest to make sure it's THEM...all cultures that didn't think that way are extinct) within the phase change bubble defined by Dunbar's number (within my monkeysphere) is US. Everyone and everything outside of it is THEM. The rules change at the boundry of the monkeysphere.
Shirely as a scientist and a philosopher you know that?
I wouldn't be so sure.
Just because you look at the actions of an animal and see stupidity doesn't mean the animal is stupid. It just means it doesn't do what you think is smart.
Yet the animal still lives on Planet Earth, which is surely the most cruel planet of all of them, for life must suffer upon it, while other nearby planets are barren, and do not need to feel pain, for there is no life on it.
If an animal can survive on Earth, it must surely have some sort of complex process that allows it to live, and have offspring in an unending chain lasting billions of years.
Plants are also powerful, and I think they do deserve respect and personhood, no matter if you agree.
As a scientist, you know that genetic code is incredibly complex. It produces plants, hogs, ducks, cats, and humans, and all other living things. This means genetic code itself is what deserves respect.
As a philosopher, you must know the value of knowledge and information. Genetic code is pure information in physical form, information so powerful that it can build a living body for itself, including a brain, and then live inside that body until it decides to mix with another piece of genetic code, which to us, is sex.
All beings do this, no matter if it looks like rape to you, or pollen allergies, or whatever else. The boundaries of personhood shift if you look at genetic code as the person, rather than the body and brain that it produces.
I'm not a scientist...I'm a retired truck driver.
I know what I've seen and I know what I've learned in the University of Hard Knocks.
NO...I "must" not know any of those things..
They're not true..they are wishful thinking.