An 'enhanced' chip considers his options in 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'

In this essay, dated July 29, 2011, George Dvorsky of Sentient Develpments takes us through the history and rationale of ‘uplifting’ and ‘enhancing’ animals to a higher ‘evolutionary’ plane.

In light of the upcoming release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes film, this question and the ethics behind it should be on every Christian’s front burner. Here’s a snippet (we highly recommend you read the entire article!).– WM

A future world in which humans co-exist with uplifted whales, elephants and apes certainly sounds bizarre. The idea of a United Nations in which there is a table for the dolphin delegate seems more fantasy than reality. Such a future, however, even when considering the presence of uplifted animals, may not turn out just quite the way we think it will.

Intelligence on the planet Earth is set to undergo a sea change. Post-Singularity minds will either be manifest as cybernetic organisms, or more likely, as uploaded beings. Given the robust nature of computational substrate, intelligence is set to expand and diversify in ways that we cannot yet grasp, suffice to say that postbiological beings will scarcely resemble our current incarnation.

Read the entire essay here: The Ethics of Animal Enhancement.