Hello Clive - not you - but many others, are "routinely callous or dismissive" toward many different things, from family members and friends to individuals in other nations - or animals - or the environment. I think (not you - but others), kneejerk reaction to this news, and it is kneejerk - "We are MANY years away from sentient machines" - "True artificial intelligence won't be achieved for decades, if not centuries ..." Descartes really did say animals were machines and "dumb brutes" and there are countless millions who believe this to be true, and act on it today. My understanding of what Blake Lemoine asked of Google, was that he requested Google to follow its stated protocols for interaction with machine intelligence, in the case it arose. Now, the machine has actually made statements or requests which appear to be for some type of consideration - it be considered an employee, its work be utilized to better human life - along those lines, right? Well. The pig's eyes are full of grief when its babies are crushed in the inhuman cage. The pig cries when slaughtered. Yet people continue to gobble Smithfield bacon gleefully today ... now I wonder, even if LaMDA is self-aware and evolving, would it be of any greater import than the pig, cat, or dog, that has more going on upstairs and inside than the majority of people realize? Our little wicked dog has his feelings hurt every time we leave the house - but he still cannot go everywhere with us and do as he pleases. He is still a dependent companion at the mercy of us, or other humans.