The Future of the Animal Rights Movement: Environmental Conflict, Artificial Intelligence, and Beyond

April 2003
Citation:
33
ELR 10265
Issue
4
Author
Jon Owens

I. Introduction

The fate of humans has been intertwined with the fate of other animals since human ancestors scavenged the carcasses of non-human animals, nearly six million years ago. Feeding upon the meat of other animals gave these early humans a boost of protein, providing their brains with extra energy for higher level thinking. Thus began the rise of humanity and the flourishing of Homo sapiens.

The modern animal rights movement has made some gains in convincing humans that non-human animals are more than mere tools. They have convinced some humans that other animals' interests deserve at least some consideration. They have proven the strong intellectual, emotional, and linguistic similarities between humans and other higher level life-forms such as apes and whales. But the modest successes of the animal rights movement may soon be undone by recent advances in biotechnology and genetic engineering. The new technology will provide inventors with the opportunity to create nonsentient animals, lacking the ability to feel pain. Such inventions will mute the concerns of animal rights activists, to say the least.

But on the verge of awakening is the newest high-level life-forms, created from artificial intelligence (A.I.). Animal rights activists should take part in a crusade to define who controls and defines what these new animals will be. As A.I. could be the most powerful force able to affect the planet, environmentalists should argue for their concerns to be integrated into the values of this new species.

Jon Owens is a Staff Attorney at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Administrative Law Judges. He received an LL.M in Energy and Environmental Law from Tulane Law School in 2000; a J.D. from John Marshall Law School in 1998; and a B.A. from Oglethorpe University in 1995. This Article was written in the author's nonofficial capacity, and no official support or endorsement of the U.S. government of this Article is intended or should be inferred.

Mr. Owens would like to thank the following for reviewing and/or submitting comments on an earlier draft of this Article: Layman Allen, Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School; Kevin Ashley, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Professor of Intelligent Systems, Graduate Program in Intelligent Systems—University of Pittsburgh; Hugo de Garis, Professor and Head of Utah State University's Artificial Brain Project; Donald Nute, Director, Artificial Intelligence Center, University of Georgia; Peter Singer, DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University and author of Animal Liberation; Bruce Wagman, Adjunct Professor, University of California—Hastings College of Law and co-author of the Animal Law casebook; Steven Wise, animal law attorney and author of Rattling the Cage and Drawing the Line; and Eliezer Yudkowsky, Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. All mistakes are those of the author, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the aforementioned people.

Article File