Does this actually become an interesting question at this point? I guess worms don’t have many rights anyway, but if they did, and this was a totally accurate simulation, why not give the digital worm rights?
I actually don’t know, are there any ethical guidelines for working with very limited animals like this? I know they are pretty limited intelligence wise, but I would hope the researchers at least kill them in a quick, painless manner when the experiments are done.
I guess if the computer mode really is true on a physical level it is owed the same (minimal) level of decency somehow.
My point is: let's discuss this before we simulate more complex life and let's not draw some arbitrary line in the sand or call it all "artificial = not worthy anything".
Yeah, I agree, definitely at least that it is an insufficiently explored ethical issue.
I suspect people are just leaning on the intuitive answer (that it is just a computer program), and the fact that we just don’t have the ability to simulate anything that has, like, obvious rights yet. I don’t think the first will really stand up to scrutiny, and the second is clearly a temporary solution (to the extent that it even is a solution).
