If a Robot is Conscious, is it Okay to Turn it Off? – Gizmodo Australia

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Measure of a Man, Data, an android crew member of the Enterprise, is to be dismantled for research purposes unless Captain Picard can argue that Data deserves the same rights as a human being. Naturally the question arises: What is the basis upon which something has rights? What gives an entity moral standing?
The philosopher Peter Singer argues that creatures that can feel pain or suffer have a claim to moral standing. He argues that nonhuman animals…

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