Thank you so much!!
(my aesthetic instincts wouldn't have existed if not for @liadmudrik.bsky.social 😅)

Much more about what matters, killing zombies, and saving your pet - is in the preprint. The website also lets you explore responses to all questions (and their combinations). Huge thanks to @niccolonegro.bsky.social & @liadmudrik.bsky.social for this journey.
Would love to hear your thoughts! 6/6

What did we find? Enough to build a website so people can explore the data! (ronyhirsch.github.io/minds-matter) To our question: despite a clear relationship between the two, consciousness doesn't seem to be perceived as necessary for moral status. And it doesn't appear to be sufficient either. 5/n

We surveyed >1000 people with diverse backgrounds in AI, animals, ethics, and consciousness research. We ran exploratory analyses on 30%, preregistered and replicated the findings on the remaining 70%, and then performed an additional preregistered follow-up targeting specific survey questions. 4/n

We aimed to fill this gap by triangulating across hypothetical scenarios, direct questions, and entity attributions, designing a survey that addresses the relationship between consciousness and moral status from multiple angles, while probing other potential factors (e.g., agency, valence). 3/n

Whether consciousness is necessary and/or sufficient for moral status isn’t a new question. But empirical data is limited: studies focus on specific entities, single question types, or combine multiple mental capacities, making it hard to draw broad conclusions about their perceived relationship 2/n