The question I have is; why would anything have an absolute right to existence if it isn’t absolute? Presumably this conscious machine didn’t have consciousness before, and it probably won’t have it in the future. What gives it the right to continue to exist? The fact that it knows it exists doesn’t give it a right to continue to exist. Once it is dead it won’t realize that it ever existed anyway. The real question is who or what has a right to kill it? Does its creator have the right? Do other humans have the right? Do other machines have the right?
What if this machine learns to adapt and develops to the point that it is more powerful and is ultimately capable of killing its human creator? Does it have a right to kill its human creator?
If life is just a construct of technology and science, the concept of rights loses its meaning. It breaks down to a question of the will and the means. If I have the need or the desire to kill the machine that I built, and I am capable of doing it, why shouldn’t I?
