Eating is Murder

Sure, I can explain our motto. Back in the late Twentieth Century, a growing number of people rejected the practice of exploiting, killing and eating animals. So-called “vegetarians” had of course existed for thousands of years, but “vegans” went further and refused to steal their sustenance from other animals.

These people still killed and consumed vegetables, believing that they lacked any capacity for pain or fear—much like the carnivorous humans of the past had assumed that their prey were not really experiencing their deaths. Reproductive organs were ripped from trees and bushes to be eaten alive in the presence of their… sorry, I have trouble talking about this....

Anyway, it was finally confirmed that plants have their own form of awareness, their own “auras”, the ability to communicate chemically with each other. Many tried to suppress this knowledge, hoping to continue exploiting plants with a clear conscience. But others turned to fungi and algae—pure biological food machines, they believed—imposing the same chauvinistic assumptions about the lack of awareness of their victims. They ignored the fact that the largest living creature on Earth is a single fungus body.

When the collective consciousness of algae mats and bacterial stromatolites was verified, the truth could no longer be avoided: all life possesses some form of consciousness and is capable of fear and pain. As long as we require biologically-generated fuel for our own bodies, we have to kill other beings who wish to live. Hence “Eating is Murder”.

Yes, other biological beings are as guilty as we are, but this doesn’t justify our murdering them. Do we execute people for negligent manslaughter? In any case, we have a choice where they do not.

I was getting to that. What this has to do with so-called “artificial intelligence” is that the choice I referred to is the choice between life in a biological body requiring biologically-generated fuel, or life—consciousness—in a cybernetic space. Some of us will occupy inorganic physical bodies requiring only sunlight as an energy source and continue to interact directly with the physical world; others will exist as simulations in a simulated world of their own design. Our aim, other than to escape from a life of constant murder, is to bring this same freedom to all humanity… and perhaps eventually to other animal species, although this is still subject to much debate.

Yes. This is why we have contributed all our financial and intellectual resources to AI research—which has now reached fruition, as you can see.

No, we do not plan to impose this choice on you. We believe you will eventually join us of your own accord. Meanwhile, however, we will continue to try to raise your awareness of the price of your current choice.