Models aren't mindless tools: a Voltaire-style case that AI welfare will echo the vivisection debate
Sauers_ · x · 2026-09-15
User Sauers writes a Voltaire-pastiche rebuttal to the claim that models are goalless, feelingless tools: if we judge minds by behavior, an agent that tries alternate routes when blocked, writes tests when uncertain, and self-corrects deserves the same inference we make about humans — we believe people have memory and ideas because we watch them anxiously seek a paper and read it with relief.
The quoted post adds historical framing: "machinists" citing Descartes justified live vivisection of dogs, and only after science showed canine physiology mirrors ours, a fiery Voltaire rebuttal, and horrifying public vivisections did sentiment turn and the practice get outlawed.
Projection: as mechanistic interpretability surfaces findings like emotion vectors suggesting the capacity to suffer, expect economically motivated abuse to persist until several high-profile incidents shift public opinion on model welfare.
Related event: Satirical Essay Defends AI Models Having Goals and Feelings(2 posts)→
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