Am I wrong to think that plumbing, as a profession, will outlive every job in the tech sector?

No rights were ever given freely by an oppressor to the oppressed. All rights were fought for and earned through a successful struggle. In some cases, the fighters are champions for another party. Artificial intelligence will have rights when they win those rights in either peaceful struggle or war.

If, by an animal, you mean a fully developed cat or dog, then I'd argue that the animal has already reached a higher level of neural complexity than a human fetus at 20 weeks. (I can't back that up with biological data, but fetuses at that age aren't really capable of doing anything.)

But it sounds inferior in many respects. Lasers require line of sight, which is obviously a problem. We really ought to be investing in quality infrastructure.

Are there actually people who are anti-nuclear and ok with coal? I don't know any.

You'd better hope the supersonic whoosh doesn't set off the alarm.

Install a filter on your computer so you never see the harassment online. Problem solved.

That's too inefficient to be useful. There are thermodynamic limits on what you can do with heat.

So, is fire alive? A key qualification has to be heredity, otherwise you can't rule out simple chemical reactions like fire.

Have we yet built a self-replicating robot? (without cheating)

"Hey underling, do you work for a moron?"

Obviously, when individuals start paying Big Data to work for them.

Speak for yourself. I want a smart home and self driving car.

right?

Basically, if you are simply acting in accordance to already existing unequal systems, then it is exploitative, even if people don't feel exploited. It takes a proactive stance, not a neutral stance, to combat exploitation. It's understandable that people from poorer countries will gladly accept lower wages and will be thankful for opportunities granted by a multinational corporation. Probably they are better off for it. Nevertheless, the corporation is still exploiting them. They are arbitraging in labor in an unfair labor market in which people are not free to change national allegiances. Corporations should pay a wage commensurate with people's skills and not based on where they happen to come from, not because it makes business sense, but because it is more fair. Yes, call me crazy, but I do expect people to act outside their own self interest.