Strong opinion, loosely held:

A century from now, our descendants will not look kindly upon how we treat other* animals today. I wager that within this century, a radical shift will occur in mankind's perception of animal consciousness, and with it, animal rights as well.

We will eventually come to accept as obvious that Homo sapiens does not hold an exceptional place in the animal kingdom; that our qualia is not substantively different from that of other living fauna; and that an elaborate language, while a great multiplier for intelligence, is not a prerequisite for it.

It will appear evident to our great grandchildren that other animals feel perceive, and think; and that if those qualia are difficult for us to imagine, it's only because of our own sensorial and brain limitations.

The seismic change starts here: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv223z15mpmo

* I eventually added "others" but my first human bias was to skip the word, as if we were not ourselves members of the vast animal kingdom

Where did the idea that animals aren’t conscious come from anyway?

I would guess this could have something to do with it - essentially a religiously defined hierarchy of consciousness:

Where did the idea that animals aren’t conscious come from anyway?

I would guess this could have something to do with it - essentially a religiously defined hierarchy of consciousness:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_chain_of_being