Machines Will Always Be Things, Never "Persons"

In light of transhumanist advocacy for "machine rights," should artificial intelligence (AI) ever be realized, I decided to weigh in at First Things on the craziness of it all. Machines will always be things, not "persons." From "AI Machines: Things Not Persons":

Machines have no dignity and no rights, which properly belong exclusively to the human realm.

Moreover, AI contraptions would only mimic sentience. As inanimate objects, AI contrivances could no more be "harmed" (as distinguished fr...