I would stick to my guns in this case and say that were the situation reversed (i.e. humans as the perceived inferiors) the aliens would have every right to deny us equal legal status in their legal system if we truly operated on a different plane of ethical and perceptual thought.

Just because an entity values different things (your example about valuing ecosystems vs. individual lives) doesn't mean that they should be incapable of recognizing what others value and offering compromise - isn't that the whole point of recognizing some substantive morality/higher-level thinking in a being?

It's not a case of an equal position of power in terms of force, but in terms of negotiation. I meant even if whales had nukes and an army of like-minded orcas that could devastate humanity, it wouldn't matter when it comes to the negotiation of rights because we would still be in the position to deny them personhood…

I think communication is a barrier as well. How do you effectively communicate across species? Even if you've managed a way to communicate, what's socially "respectable" for one species is not for others. So who gets final say?

That because a bit of a conundrum though, doesn't it? You can't establish a fair set of laws without "both parties' consent." Which parties? You can't be part of this new social order unless you abide by this new social order's rules which are made by this new social order? How does that make sense? It's pretty…

I don't think I'm missing your point, I just find it to be somewhat flawed in practice to the point where it's highly unfeasible. Maybe in theory it's a nice idea, but it's hard enough to get it to work in the human world, having it applied across species would exacerbate things.

That was fun, your link was a bit weird, but I managed to find it. Man, that's pretty prescient, if only you patented your snarky comment!

The problem with that again depends on your "social rules." A lot of social rules can seem strange or arbitrary, and it's hard to get a consensus about them. Even the simplest ones (try not to kill each other) aren't so simple when interpreted (look at the modern justice system). And who defines them anyways? Those…

Ah Theseus' ship but with ROBOTS! Personally, I think a lot of our wet-ware informs or influences our perspectives on things. So, probably at the point where Test Subject A can no longer relate to "the rest of us," or us Test Subject A, we can say that's not people anymore. Of course the question is who are the "rest…

The problem with this is that there are a lot of social rules that change and a lot of human people that can't follow social rules anyways.

Wow, these are pretty awesome, could only be done by someone who's a fan.

Holy crap I forgot she was in Riddick!

Whoah, yeah, totally with you on all those points actually, but still enjoyed the film. There were similarities to Nolan's Batman trilogy as you and Charlie Jane Anders mentioned, but I felt those were tropes done already anyways, so they weren't unique to TDK/R. The Home Alone thing ticked me off too, but only…

I think you are misunderstanding. The heroin aspect is the part where the author was not being serious, he was making an exaggerated analogy. I think everyone is being quite calm. At least I haven't seen anyone prowling about the streets trying to get various small, furry mammals hooked on opiates.

Who's to say making raccoons part of our animal labour force is not a form of help? I'm pretty sure the heroin aspect was just the writer being facetious, but training animals to work with humans seems like a pretty good idea that people have done well before. Raccoons also don't seem like a species that would want…

I liked the idea of this episode that "normal" lives make not-so-normal people uncomfortable and confused. It's a bit like what Supernatural touches on every now and then when they start moaning about "the family business."

Maybe when you grew up in the suburbs, and I guess it depends on which suburb you grew up in, but people are wayyy more paranoid now. I'm surprised no one approached Reese stalking the soccer field alone like the creepy weirdo he is.

I think it's just as much a tragedy for the boy not to have the foresight to know how selfish he was being. It was tragic all around with everyone having understandable flaws that contributed. No one really took the kid aside to reflect on his actions and how he was dealing with outside pressures poorly. And I didn't…

I think it may have been manipulative for sure, but I don't think it was too melodramatic. I thought considering everything that happened the "drama" was understated. And I disagree that the mother was flawless and saintly, if anything she was sadly ignorant. She didn't know how to connect to her son and she didn't…

Damn it, should have put in a warning about this story. Not the best thing to read at work. Not the best thing to try to finish reading at work. Not the best thing to try and muster up the wherewithal to finish it on the subway from work. Thank god I already had a stack of tissues around because of my cold.