How much do you like philosophy?

[Rampant.A.I.]

William Lane Craig I find absurd. he seriously claimed that animals cannot feel conscious that they are in pain because god 'in his mercy' has so allowed them not to suffer (which is crap because whether conscious of what pain is or not they certainly feel pain and therefore the only reason why you would not inflict pain on animals was to 'respect something god had made'..and he calls himself rational.

Frankly I would prefer a bible thumping bigot frothing and screaming about hellfire from the pulpit than a man who has a pretence at rationality but is nothing of the sort.

That's part of the common beliefs of the day, Descartes also believed animals were meat clockwork. It's a holdover from Christian Dominion, which we still see strong echoes today: From disbelief in anthropogenic global warming, to the belief that overpopulation or exhaustion of natural resources is "impossible" because of perfect design.

It's similar to beliefs that the moon is a circle in the sky: You can look, and clearly tell it's spherical. Anyone who's owned pets can tell you animals have consciousness.