^TagHuman rights

Beautiful autumn tree with mushrooms and moss in forest

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
October 31, 2023

Categorized
Environment

Tagged
Environmentalism, Human rights, milwaukee, Nature Rights, wesley j smith}

The Anti-Human “Rights of Nature” Movement

_{Environmentalism is growing increasingly antii-human. Just look at what Milwaukee County did.} _{Wesley J. Smith

October 31, 2023

3

Environment}

Environmentalism is growing increasingly anti-human. The “nature rights” movement epitomizes the misanthropy. If the suppose rights of Nature (with a capital N) were ever enforced legally–human thriving would be throttled by elevating the entire natural world to quasi-personhood status deserving — at minimum — equal consideration with humans. Moreover, nature rights laws generally allow anyone to sue to enforce nature’s supposed rights, which would mean that human enterprise would be subject to lawfare by the most extreme environmentalists. Milwaukee County has jumped on the bandwagon. From a formal “Resolution Supporting the Nature Rights Movement:” WHEREAS, major bodies of water within Milwaukee County, including the Menominee River, Milwaukee River, and Fox River as well as Lake Michigan, provide essential biodiversity and wildlife habitats; andWHEREAS, these Read More ›

Little funny rabbit sitting in leaves in autumn

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
October 25, 2023

Categorized
Human exceptionalism

Tagged
Animal rights, animal welfare act, endangered species act, Human rights, Oxford University Press, Voting, Wesley J. Smith}

Should Animals Be Able to Vote? Some Animal Rights Activists Think So

_{Here's a taste of just how absurd and extreme "animal rights" has become.} _{Wesley J. Smith

October 25, 2023

5

Human exceptionalism}

As I always say, if you want to see what is going so badly wrong in society, read the professional and intellectual journals. Read More ›

Top view on blue ocean waves. Nature background.

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
October 15, 2023

Categorized
Environment

Tagged
Earth, Human exceptionalism, Human rights, ideology, Nature, Nature Rights, ocean, ocean rights, United Nations, Wesley J. Smith}

The United Nations is Considering Granting “Ocean Rights”

_{Why is granting “rights” to oceans becoming a thing?} _{Wesley J. Smith

October 15, 2023

5

Environment}

Common-sense environmentalism is no longer in style. The Ocean and Nature rights movements are symptoms of a viral anti-humanism. Read More ›

Circle of paper people holding hands on pink surface. Community, brotherhood concept. Society and support.

^{Type
post

Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
March 13, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Consciousness, Human rights, Robert J. Marks, robotics}

Love Thy Robot as Thyself

_{Academics worry about AI feelings, call for AI rights} _{Richard W. Stevens

March 13, 2023

6

Artificial Intelligence}

Riffing on the popular fascination with AI (artificial intelligence) systems ChatGPT and Bing Chat, two authors in the Los Angeles Times recently declared: We are approaching an era of legitimate dispute about whether the most advanced AI systems have real desires and emotions and deserve substantial care and solicitude. The authors, Prof. Eric Schwitzgebel at UC Riverside, and Henry Shevlin, a senior researcher at the University of Cambridge, observed AI thinkers saying “large neural networks” might be “conscious,” the sophisticated chatbot LaMDA “might have real emotions,” and ordinary human users reportedly “falling in love” with chatbot Replika. Reportedly, “some leading theorists contend that we already have the core technological ingredients for conscious machines.” The authors argue that if or when Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 16, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Human exceptionalism

Tagged
Animal rights, Christianity, Creativity, Dean Koontz, Dogs, Human exceptionalism, Human rights, transhumanism, Wesley J. Smith, Wesley J. Smith on transhumanism}

Human Exceptionalism is a Central Theme for Novelist Dean Koontz

_{Bestselling author Dean Koontz talks fiction, human exceptionalism, and transhumanism with Wesley J. Smith in new podcast episode (Part II)} _{Peter Biles

September 16, 2022

6

Arts & Culture, Human exceptionalism}

In Part I of this two-part series, we looked at Dean Koontz’s remarks on the purpose of art and the unique role of the novelist in today’s “everything is political” environment. But that’s not all he and Smith discussed on the Humanize Podcast on September 12th. Both had a lot to say about human exceptionalism, authoritarianism, and also…dogs! Koontz spoke about his love for the pups at the end of the episode, but first, discussed how the “animal rights” movement has gone wrong, and how a materialistic worldview can lead to despair. Smith commented how human exceptionalism is a central theme in Koontz’s novels and asked the reason, to which Koontz responded, “There’s no civilization if we don’t recognize Read More ›

Wireframed Robot hand making contact with human hand on dark 3D rendering

^{Type
podcast

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
February 25, 2021

Tagged
1984, 2084, Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness, Dan Brown, Human rights, immortality, orwell, Panpsychism, Prometheus, Revelation, Robot rights, Superintelligence, surveillance capitalism, transhumanism}

Bingecast: John Lennox on Artificial Intelligence and Humanity

_{Robert J. Marks

February 25, 2021

2}

In this bingecast episode, Robert J. Marks talks with Dr. John C. Lennox, professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford, about all things artificial intelligence. Should robots have rights? What are A.I.’s advantages and threats to humanity? And does theology have anything to say about all of this? Listen in as they discuss Dr. Lennox’s book 2084, and wrestle Read More ›

Kashgar, China - with more than 80% of the population made by Uyghurs, Kashgar displays a lot of Islamic landmarks. Here in particular the Id Kah Mosque, the biggest mosque in China

^{Type
post

Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
February 3, 2021

Categorized
Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance

Tagged
Biometric databases, Cell phone surveillance, China, Featured, Human rights, Human Rights Watch, Intercept (publication), iTap, Police databases (China), Sharp Eyes Initiative (China), Strike Hard Campaign (China), Uyghurs}

Leaked Police Database: Total Surveillance of China’s Uyghurs

_{Human Rights Watch notes that many countries engage in human rights abuses, but “more than any other government, Beijing has made technology central to its repression.”} _{Heather Zeiger

February 3, 2021

8

Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance}

Human Rights Watch has released its 2021 annual report of global human rights abuses in 2020. In his keynote article, Executive Director Kenneth Roth said “this has been the darkest period for human rights in China since the 1989 massacre that ended the Tiananmen Square democracy movement.” The report outlines several ways that the Chinese Communist Party has repressed Chinese citizens. Among those are the Uyghurs, an ethnically Turkish majority Muslim people living in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China. The CCP continues to use every means, including massive technological surveillance, to control the Uyghur population. This is the second year that China has been one of the biggest offenders of human rights. Last year’s keynote article pointed out Read More ›