> We owe the monkeys their sapience.

> I did [killed all the kids I haven't had] and I find it acceptable.

Don't you think it's a self-contradiction? There's 0 evidence to support valuing hypothetical descendants of these monkeys over hypothetical descendants of your children.

A fair complaint. These kids are present intelligence. The monkeys are possible intelligence. I think the truth is that I would spend no money of my own on either of these things. And since the activation energy to turn a smart-monkey grant into a save-the-Somali-kids-from-guineaworm-grant is very high, I am acting in the margin to ensure that a smart-monkey grant doesn't get turned into a should-we-make-smart-monkey grant or a how-smart-is-monkey grant, both of which are far more likely.

Secondarily, I value some sort of backup intelligence system as a protection against human intelligence monoculture. Though one could reasonably argue that adding a human brain-fold gene to a monkey does make it more human-like than truly independent.

I suppose I'm hoping that we get better at this and eventually are capable of uplift that yields not necessarily human-style intelligence.

Are you also morally comfortably with yourself being killed? I assume so, for the same reasons you give.

I think I can admit that there are moral frameworks that don't care if I live or die and don't, therefore, take active action to prevent the death of this person, and therefore that are comfortable with killing me through inaction should a situation arise where I will die without aid. It would be foolish to believe otherwise. Most people actively take this position. If I were to post that I'm dying, not one on this site would save my life.

I don't subscribe to an absolutist view of the veil of ignorance. My life is, to me, of higher utility than yours or the random children who I actively choose to let die daily.

So I'm going to act in a manner that preserves my life. That seems natural, after all. The other day I bought a new phone instead of saving a child's life. I don't even like this Pixel 5 that much. I like my life very much. Think about how many kids I'd kill for that.