I really think it's dangerous to start assuming we understand intelligence given the fact that we're the model we use for it.
It's very difficult, for example, to say that bee colonies don't express intelligence at a group level. And yet, if we were to apply your statement there it wouldn't make sense. The most we might say is that if the bees can't survive and propagate, that would be cruel.
When we decouple the concept of intelligence and even sentience from the biological imperative to reproduce, we end up at an entirely different place. I'm not sure we can really even imagine what that's like. In any event we're surely decades off from really producing that level of intelligence even with the most wildly optimistic estimates.
It's very difficult, for example, to say that bee colonies don't express intelligence at a group level. And yet, if we were to apply your statement there it wouldn't make sense. The most we might say is that if the bees can't survive and propagate, that would be cruel.
When we decouple the concept of intelligence and even sentience from the biological imperative to reproduce, we end up at an entirely different place. I'm not sure we can really even imagine what that's like. In any event we're surely decades off from really producing that level of intelligence even with the most wildly optimistic estimates.