for Jane Goodall and David Brin

Animal rights, while still controversial as I write, need no explanation. But uplift does. The term, coined by David Brin, means to breed or genetically engineer animals into new species of people. The concept has a moral component: Brin argues we're morally obliged to spread the benefits of intelligence, language, knowledge, opposable thumbs! After all, haven't other species shared our pollution and habitat degradation? We won the Darwinian war... but after a war comes reconstruction. We owe them reparations.

The current debate on genetic engineering is cast in terms of benefits or harm to humans, and the risk of harm to other species. Brin's notion of uplift points out the fourth, overlooked possibility and moral stance--benefits to nonhumans.

Is it possible to improve an ecosystem? What does that mean? In the world of tooth and claw, one species's competitive gain is another's loss. But we recognize overall harm to an ecosystem--reduced diversity, reduced biomass. Can't we acknowledge that change can be good, too? Decrease erosion in a desert and charge up groundwater so it supports thin forest--yes, some desert species will suffer, but if we clearcut an open forest leaving a eroded desert behind, we'd unhesitatingly call it degradation. A spring in the desert brings trouble to some, but perhaps "the greatest good for the greatest number" does apply to nonhuman species as well; it's a formulation not so far from "biomass times diversity." And it really can grow as well as shrink.

What if we only have the moral right to alter an ecosystem or individual species for its own benefit, not for our profit?

Biomass, diversity... are we ready to concede that consciousness is also good? We find it so. So don't we have the moral obligation to work to spread that benefit, too, to other species? There's quite a long list of creatures not far behind us, short on just one element of the cluster needed to build or join a civilization: hands, big brains, sociability, language, a long enough lifespan... Can you really say that any of those are negative? Would YOU give any of them up, dear reader? Then don't you have an obligation to help apes, elephants, ravens, parrots, wolves, cetaceans, giant squid (etc) acquire the last elements of the cluster that they lack?

The changes needn't be via genetic engineering. It's quite possible that an intelligent animal wired up for instant access to math, logic and grammar co-processors would constitute a person. Certainly all the core problems of AI--ignorance of the real world, difficulty translating complex visual or spatial imagery into something meaningful, difficulties with natural languages and their emotional nuances, self-awareness and awareness of others, motivation and flexibility... all are problems the higher animals solved long ago. Animals and computers seem rather complementary, in fact.

Given dual paths to the outcome, I suspect uplift and animal people will cease to be theoretical within our lifetimes.

And of course it wouldn't be pure altruism. Culture has always gained from diversity. But of course, that's the grown-up argument. The real reason to start an uplift program is that a multispecies civilization would be more fun. Kids in all cultures start out in a fairytale world, where other creatures talk, and only reluctantly grow into a world where humans are seen as unique. But not, contrary to certain religious doctrines, really apart. We're not superior beings--nor monsters. We're simply creatures of privilege: not the first to reach the ideosphere (the cetaceans almost certainly beat us there), but the first talkers with hands, who could fully exploit the new realm's resources. A pioneer species.

Any ecosystem with a pioneer species exploding across it is precarious. For our own survival, we (and "we" means people, not humans) need other species to join us--if only to keep us sane on the journey.

I'm no organizer. I know I can't build the Uplift Institute. But really, there ought to someplace where these issues are discussed, and guidelines worked out, and policies advocated--until the concept of uplift is taken for granted in popular culture.

Aw, c'mon, build it for me. You know you want to.

An aside:

It's always seemed odd to me people on all sides of the genetic engineering debate focus on whether it's right to manipulate other organisms for human benefit. Morally, isn't the only genome we have a right to meddle with precisely the one we're afraid to--our own? Rather than twist other creatures into better servants, why not change our own genes so we need less? Better night vision instead of more lights, more efficient digestion not more food. Smaller people use less resources. Small enough, and wings become possible--goodbye cars! Why should intelligence reshape the world? It's more intelligent for intelligence to reshape itself to fit into the world more easily.

Uplift starts at home.

What this site is - Add your dreams! - How to read blurbs - Ratings - Copyright - Downloading - The World Dream Bank has 4000 dreams plus 1000 pages on dreamwork, shamanism, surrealism, fantasy, worldbuilding, creativity and genius. Site © Chris Wayan 2001-2022.

	AHAB: by Wayan; 1994/1/10, a shamanic dream on the ethics of Moby Dick. When I was a kid I was already a mystic and knew what Captain Ahab was REALLY after, but...
	ANIMAL DREAMLETS: by Wayan; 1996/11/20, four dream vignettes A night of gorilla-guerillas, feminist backlash among wolves, and horse-ballerinas, first in chorus lines, then a sexy soloist...
	ANIMAL DREAMS: by Carolyn Tipton; a 2019 poem arguing that without animal viewpoints the world goes flat "What about their dreams? What if they've all been partly dreaming us, and lacking them, our world becomes as trivial and narrow as our dreams?"...
	ANIMAL SPEECH, ANIMAL ESP: by Wayan; 1997/7/31, from Wayan's journal. When you really observe animals in language programs it's obvious WE'RE the dimwits...
	ANIMAL TRANSFIGURATION: by Edwin Muir; c.1920, a dream of an animal Resurrection A man with luminous hair leads me out to a field where all the world's animals but one gaze at heaven...
	BODY MESS: by Wayan; summer 1981, ink, 3x5" surreal nondream sketch. If artists do this with ink, what makes you think genetic engineers will do any better with flesh?... CAUTION: DON'T DO THIS AT HOME
	BONOBO AND BEAR: by Wayan, 1999/10/14, a mystic war-dream. The gods of our cave-past and star-future fight over us--using us, of course. After I see the toll it's taking on a bonobo buddy of mine, I decide to bring the war back home, and go gunning for God--BOTH of them... CAUTION: APES AND EXPLOSIVES DON'T MIX
	BRIGHT BEAST, PATIENT BEAST: by Edwin Muir; c.1920, a dream of our primal struggle Two beasts eternally fight, the proud bright peacock-tailed beast and the sad-eyed, ever-defeated sheepdog of...
	CAT-SNAKE: by Wayan; 1993/3/6, a short dream fable. I glue cat-legs on my snaky friend, despite the scare talk from Christians sure that snakes never change...
	THE CHAPARRAL OF TIME: by Wayan; 2008/10/21, a timetravel dream-poem: Dreamverse #36 I snorkel over time-reefs to an era of talking animals--but why crash on the head of rocker Suzi Quatro?
	THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF AN ANT: by Walter de la Mare; 1920s, a tutelary dream. The book's first two pages showed an ant's awareness, then a human's wider grasp--both mere freckles on reality...
	CREATURE BECOMES CREATOR: by Wayan; 2015/2/5, three linked advisory dreams on world trends A weird little forest god bred me from an ordinary deer into a creature who can almost pass for human. But World War 2 killed my god, and now I'm growing into... CAUTION: NUDITY, CROSSBREEDING
	DINO SINGULARITY: by Wayan; 2012/3/30, a paleontological speculation in a dream. Peering in a spacetime gate, I wonder if all the dinos went extinct. Would we spot an ancient Singularity?
	DOG ON THE RAMP: by Wayan; 1989/4/6, a dream of love in a time of bias. My friend Lisadia sneers at a dog-girl's attempts to beautify her starship. I'm shocked--she's openly specist... CAUTION: SPECISM
	DUBIA: by Wayan; summer 2003, a nondream sculpture/prophecy/travelog. What Earth will look like 1000 years from now, with doubled CO2, flooded coasts and melted poles... CAUTION: CALLS GEORGE W. BUSH A BIG FAT LIAR
	ELBERETH PAUSES: by Wayan; 1989/6/26, a dream on postwar ethics. After the Lord of the Rings falls, Elbereth herself is sent to heal the land. But she has a troubling neighbor...
	GAFTA: by Wayan; 1996/5/9, a pro-sabotage dream. The aliens offer us a Galactic Free Trade Agreement, but my friends and I think it's a disastrous deal... CAUTION: MORAL AMBIGUITY
	HUNT OF THE UNICORN: by Wayan; 1989/5/18, an overlooked psychic dream. I marry, just to get into a clannish world where I'm seeking symbiotic unicorns. I end up fleeing... Next evening, a TV movie--Goldie Hawn marries into a clannish world and ends up...
	ICK! DOGS!: by Wayan; 1990/1/3, a Star Trek dream. I'm Jean-Luc Picard, and my Enterprise has been taken over by a pack of brilliant, paranoid wolves...
	I'M A VESTA, NOT A MAN!: by Wayan; 1980/1/6, a dream of when it's over. I'm the animal guardian of a deep crater, but when a human girl rejects me, I set out to leave... CAUTION: ORAL SEX, UNREQUITED LOVE, SPECISM
	IN THE SHADOW OF MAN: by Wayan; 1994/3/4, a dream on how to escape the cage I'm a lab animal who discovers voice software and creates a personal zine, testifying for our rights...
	THE LEASH: by Wayan; 1995/6/26, a dreamfable. Alien abductions upset us--being studied, treated like animals. But isn't that how we treat other species-- study, exploit, ignore their feelings? That night, I dream one dog on a leash paralyzes a civilization...
	LYR: by Wayan; 7MB, 2005, 80 pages w/200+ drawings and maps; a virtual planet A vast sea-world with 7 times Earth's mass, whose isles are home to at least 19 intelligent species... CAUTION: CUTE ALIENS, WEIRD SEX CUSTOMS, GODLESS EVOLUTION!
	MISFITS ON MARS: by Wayan; 1986/11/20, an epic dream; the climax of the dreamseries UNICORN TAG. From the punk clubs of Frisco to the Safeways of Si Valley to the vermilion sands of Mars, Silky the were-nightmare fights for the Misfits against every cliche in science fiction...
	MOLLY'S PROSTHETIC: by Wayan, 1994/9/22, a dream predicting a mood drug will fail My dad's new wife is a collie. Naturally, she wants a prosthetic arm. But she has no site to bind it to... CAUTION: FURRY NUDITY, LEERING BUSINESSMAN, DOG WIFE
	THE OTTER'S MOM: by Wayan, 1996/5/29; a dream-comic of the future. A doomed, orphaned ottercub meets the last Tasmanian Wolf, who makes a hard choice I couldn't. Or... did I? CAUTION: BIRTH SCENE (MARSUPIAL/NON-GORY)
	PERISSA: by Wayan; 1997/9/13, a sexy dream-comic (small screen, slow loading? Illus. text) When Perissa, an exhibitionistic centaur, bares her body in a crowded Coliseum, she also bares a human-supremacist plot... CAUTION: EXHIBITIONISM, SPECISM
	THE PLANETOCOPIA INTERVIEW: David Cole of "Whose Fault is That?" questions Wayan; 2009/5/6. The roots and reasons and back-stories for the nineteen virtual worlds making up Planetocopia...
	THE SEMI-INTELLIGENT ANIMAL PROBLEM: by Wayan; 1986/4/6, a dream of impulse. The army breeds super-smart animals. Scientists fear they'll upset ecosystems, if freed. No one speaks for the creatures... CAUTION: DIRECT ACTION
	SERRANA: by Wayan; Oct-Dec 2004, a sculpture/webtour; 60 maps, photos & sketches A dry little world with many small seas, Serrana has at least six intelligent species and an anarchist culture. It's a tribute to Ursula Le Guin's anarchist utopia, "The Dispossessed", and Kropotkin's theories of biological cooperation... CAUTION: ANARCHIST POLITICS, ALIEN NUDITY
	SLUG ETHICS: by Wayan; 1974/10/7, an undream tale. A man who wants to love and respect all life has unwanted kitchen guests: a wave of slugs...
	SOULS IN THE MUD: by Wayan; 1981/1/14, a thoughtful dream. I'm being hunted in Reincarnation Swamp, as I worry--the human population boom means experienced souls are scarce. Are most folks you meet really dogs, cats... rats? CAUTION: MYSTIC ELITISM
	A SQUID STRATEGY: by Wayan; 1997/10/7, a dream warning. Giant squid start surfacing at popular beaches and eating people. Not the form of first contact we'd hoped... CAUTION: YOU ARE LUNCH
	TAROT: THE SOLAR REVOLUTION: by Wayan; Tarot card, 3x5", summer 1979. The card of revolution! The old towers of strength come down, not via war but obsolescence...
	THARN: by Wayan; 2006, 45 p, 200+ ill., a nondream virtual world: maps, photos, portraits, tours Tour a rugged, scenic moon with air and water in deep canyons sheltering a dozen intelligent species CAUTION: ANARCHISM, NUDITY, SCIENCE
	TREFIL, ON SCIENCE: by Wayan; 1994/1/26, a rant on dreamwork as science. In an oneirophobic society, it's easy to forget that when you do dreamwork, you're doing basic science. No funding, no team, no lab coat? Can't be science! Unless they mistaught us what science is...
	12 SWALLOWS, 700 DAUGHTERS: by Wayan; 1972/10/14, a dream poem on compassion; Dreamverse #5 Alchemy demands I kill ten swallows. I refuse! Instead, twelve birds and I fuse and fly over a magic wood...
	TWO-HEADED BEAST: by Wayan; 1997/7/31, a 5-page Gothic dream-comic (or as illus. text) In Castle Frankenstein, will Mary Shelley wed Elmer Fudd? His two-headed monster has marital advice...
	WINGS by Nancy Price; 1948, two bird-people dreams, one psychic I have a long chat with two songbirds. Next I'm a parrot, living in rainforest. Then the mail comes...
	WOLVES EVOLVE: by Wayan, 1983/11/11, a Darwinian dream. After seeing 'Rear Window', Grace Kelly and I are wolf children in a pack that's quickly evolving into... CAUTION: VIOLENCE, CHILD SEXUALITY, WOLF-SLANDER

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