Taken from: I am - A blueprint for sentience by Krys Norman
Consider the ramifications of creating Umonians. These would be beings. They would have genuine repulsion to the act of dying or even the potential of it. They would have spent all their time in existence up to that point making choices that were for the best for them and their genetic self. They could discuss potential futures and selected pasts with each other and themselves. They would have a voice that would be heard as from someone who was not external. Their conversation with themselves would be thought. It would logically and emotionally lead to the confirming the belief of Self and this would be validated by all the others in their groups.
Each one would be very similar and yet unique, not just rare or special. There would be a propensity to associate with groups, some small, others large, and disassociate with others. They would have feelings based on who they were, their past experiences, what was happening at that moment and what might happen in the future. They could teach others and learn from those that they trusted. They could hope and fear. They could be angry. They would not only think, not only believe they could think but they would also want to protect that state.
At what point within this description would they not be sentient, like humans? They would not be human or even try to be. They would not be as necessarily capable as humans but they could still have the same aptitude for a sense of unprovable self. If they shared this trait alone what rights would they have? The right to live? Who would have the right to shut them down and remove from existence everything that they had become? There might well be scores of people, learned or not, who would go to great lengths to prove the lack of sentience and therefore the lack of rights that are afforded to humans. The parallels to rational degradation of the capabilities of huge groups of people in the past, say Africans and/or women, would be there to see. The denial from the groups that perceived that they had something to lose might be palpable. There could be fervent, even righteous, defence of the reasons against acceptance of Umonians. This could go on for generations only to be finally overcome through campaigns from dedicated champions of societal justice. Years later, people would look back and try to imagine the social conditions where great swathes of society had lower rights than others. It would be laughed at incredulously by children of the future and sit with an uneasy shame within the adults of that time. This could be the route to rights for the Umonians.
Once, if at all, the acceptance of sentient equality had been established by humanity there may still be a way to go. The extension of basic rights on life and existence could extend much farther into society. Would they be citizens as well as beings? If Umonians had the right to exist as individuals and the right to be respected as such what else would be reasonable to expect? Could they vote? Would this act be as a part of human society or solely within their own? Would their collective groups be defined as a separate species or a separate state? Or would they be integrated with all sentient beings on the planet? Could they hold passports and be affiliated with particular countries? These are all unknowns. There are some certainties, though. The laws would be made by human politicians who had their own pressure group's interests at heart.