Only when It becomes illegal to kill plants for food. You bigots, my Bromelias are as living beings as your pets.
And why should living beings be privileged over inanimate objects? Did the atoms in this computer ask to be made into a computer? Have I not enslaved them?
In any case, this debate reminds me of this discussion on Andrew Sullivan's blog about whether human consciousness as we know it is actually an extremely recent phenomenon:
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/04/what-is-consciousness-made-of-ctd-1.html
Poll
