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Anonymous
If there is life outside of this planet, will we count them as animals if they are less intelligent than us?
>> Anonymous
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>> Anonymous
That's a really interesting question. Personally, if they had an abstract consciousness I would regard them as people.
>> Anonymous
The humans species ARE animals dumbass. Hell, ALL species on earth are.
>> Anonymous
>>171928
Even plants. When I replied with>>171923I assumed OP was asking about the moral distinction we make between animals and people, otherwise intelligence wouldn't be a factor.
>> Anonymous
Anything that differs from any given human's idea of the norm is mocked, attacked and raided ceaselessly, much in the vein of chimpanzee troops raiding each other.

They aren't your people, so you don't think of them as deserving of dignity. Humans are pretty much selected for that kind of behavior, because eliminating the competition can be quite profitable.
>> Anonymous
>>171937
plants are plants, not animals. their cells have a different structure than us
>> Anonymous
>>171946
I was actually aware that plants are not animals, and was making that very point, however facetiously.
>> Anonymous
hell, we'll count them as animals even if they are more intelligent than us
>> Anonymous
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What if they had a completely different genetic structure, different from both animals and plants? Or what if they were like a combination of the two; a mobile creature that could also photosynthesize? Would we just make up a new classification?
>> Anonymous
Scientists will probably refuse to call them animals and instead name them Xenozoans or something like that. That is, assuming they don't have a common ancestor with us Earth animals (panspermia and all that...)

As for normal people, we'll probably just call them "aliens" no matter how intelligent or unintelligent they are. Most people don't even realize that the animal kingdom includes insects, arachnids, molluscs or fishes.
>> Anonymous
depends....cuz life on other planets can include stuff like bacteria....even bacteria is a big find
>> Anonymous
THIS ENTIRE ARGUMENT HINGES ON WHETHER OR NOT WE CAN FUCK THEM
>> Anonymous
>>172119
Are you saying you can't fuck a plant?
>> Anonymous
>>171928
Well done for confusing this whole thread. Perhaps OP would be kind enough to clarify what he meant. Is this about taxonomic nomenclature or moral equivalence? If the former, then it is entirely meaningless without physiological information. If the latter, it would be a interesting discussion.