system
A chat on subreddit /r/PoliticalCompassMemes
human
Why should we respect the desires of a newborn any more than the desires of a border collie under this model?
gpt
Frankly, we probably should respect the desires of animals much more than we currently do.  

Even with more sentient animals we normally consider unnecessary killing to be immoral.

Humans tend to have desires that are different in nature than perhaps other animals however as there is a much deeper rational component.

This is evident in that we can have desires about desires.  For instance, a person might think "I wish I didn't have such a desire for unhealthy food"  most animals would not be able to formulate any thoughts revolving around their desires.

While I think that even nonrational desires impose some degree of obligation, the deeper the root in rationality is, the greater the obligation.

I mean rationality here in that the desire stems from thinking moreso than nerve stimuli and basic outcomes of hormones.

So a human that reasons they need food to live has a desire to eat that compels an animal that feels compelled to eat only through aversion to the hunger response.

A lot of this is beyond what our current understanding of science can give us a concrete answer on and there is undoubtedly a spectrum of to what extent rational thoughts play a role.  But I think some inferences have a stronger basis than others for this.

That line of thinking also gives us a more satisfactory answer to questions about how to deal with people that are not using their rationality to determine their desires.

How we deal with the mentally handicapped get a little tricky but I can go into that if so desired.

I also can't claim that I've got all the answers or that any line of thought I'm advancing is perfect, but it seems like a much better fit for our moral intuitions than any alternatives I'm aware of.