The claim is that there is no way to block this conclusion without:
using reasoning that could analogically be used to justify racism or sexism
or
using reasoning that allows for hypothetical circumstances where it would be okay (or even called for) to torture babies in cases where utilitarian calculations prohibit it.
But, on the other side, there’s no way to reinforce the argument to prevent it from going the other extreme: what negates the interpretation of an amoeba retracting from a probe to call it “pain”? It is just the anatomical quality of the nerves involved or is the computation itself that matters? In either case, the argument is doomed. The main problem to me it seems that caring as a basis for a moral argument is really not apt to be captured by a real number.
I edited the very end of my post to account for this. I think the question whether a given organism is sentient is an empirical question, i.e. one that we can unambiguously figure out with enough knowledge and computing power. Some people do disagree with that and in this case, things would become more complicated
But, on the other side, there’s no way to reinforce the argument to prevent it from going the other extreme: what negates the interpretation of an amoeba retracting from a probe to call it “pain”? It is just the anatomical quality of the nerves involved or is the computation itself that matters? In either case, the argument is doomed.
The main problem to me it seems that caring as a basis for a moral argument is really not apt to be captured by a real number.
I edited the very end of my post to account for this. I think the question whether a given organism is sentient is an empirical question, i.e. one that we can unambiguously figure out with enough knowledge and computing power. Some people do disagree with that and in this case, things would become more complicated