for me an agent is the more morally significant the more is it similar to human
Similar to a human in what way? We’re more closely related to the aforementioned cartilaginous fish than to any given sapient alien. We probably have psychology more similar to that of a border collie than that of at least some possible types of sapient alien.
As for the fish, I don’t know, it depends how the aliens are thinking and communicating. In this respect, I don’t feel much similarity with fish anyway.
As for the collie, very probably we are more similar. And I would probably care more about border collies than about crystalline baby-eating aliens. If you have a dog, you can probably imagine that the relation between a man and a collie can be pretty strong.
Similar to a human in what way? We’re more closely related to the aforementioned cartilaginous fish than to any given sapient alien. We probably have psychology more similar to that of a border collie than that of at least some possible types of sapient alien.
Similar in an intuitive way.
As for the fish, I don’t know, it depends how the aliens are thinking and communicating. In this respect, I don’t feel much similarity with fish anyway.
As for the collie, very probably we are more similar. And I would probably care more about border collies than about crystalline baby-eating aliens. If you have a dog, you can probably imagine that the relation between a man and a collie can be pretty strong.