Anne Peters: Rights, duties and responsibilities in the post-humanist constellation
Prof. Dr. iur. Anne Peters, LL.M. (Harvard) (Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg)
Rights of animals and nature
Duties, responsibility and artificial intelligence
The boundaries between animals, humans and machines are becoming increasingly blurred. The primacy of humans, who are in the process of destroying the planet, is also being questioned. In this constellation, does it make sense and is it necessary to grant rights to animals, mountains, rivers and forests, as courts in Latin America and India do? What are the practical consequences for our treatment of nature and animals, especially those that we exploit and kill by the billions? On the other hand, should we impose legal obligations on intelligent machines? Could an unmanned drone make itself liable to prosecution if it violates international humanitarian law? Do we need to establish a new legal community in which humans, animals and cyborgs have a place?