Michael Michalchik "It will optimize the consumption of those things...
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Michael Michalchik "It will optimize the consumption of those things and in any case that it's cheaper to eliminate humans than to ignore them, it will eliminate humans." Yes, I agree. But the argument is that AI's will lead to human _extinction_, not just that we will be killed if we get in the way of AI. But mice haven't been driven extinct--if anything, mice are more abundant due to the existence of humans. AI's will have bodies that are much more robust and capable of thriving in many more environments than humans: space, the bottom of the ocean, the surface of the moon. They will be able to expand into the rest of the solar system, an environment that humans won't be able to easily occupy. They'll be able to cross the vastness of space between solar systems without suffering the way humans would. There will only be a brief window in which humans and AI's would even compete for the same resources. As human societies have advanced, and we've become wealthier, we do more to care about the welfare of animals than we did in the past, not less. For example, several companies are on the cusp of developing cultured meat products that can substitute for animal derived meat products with similar quality and lower cost. Once they've perfected the tech, I expect that eating animal meat will become relatively rare and looked down upon, the way that fur coats and dog fighting are looked down upon now. I don't see why that trend won't continue with our synthetic children.