Don’t underestimate the stupidity of white people looking for an identity to fill the void of meaning in their lives.
Since New Zealand isn’t very big, there’s a good chance we’re just a fad away from having millions of 22 year olds getting shitty imitations onto their faces thus ruining it for the Maori.
It’s not cultural appropriation BTW, because Kaylee and Braden absolutely do have Maori heritage 409 generations ago!
I really wonder what’s going on in the editors minds here.
The entire premise of the article is “All experts say no, but I think yes” - why would anyone about any topic publish this? If it would be an actual debate, maybe some contrarian but actual experts arguing in favor of sentience, you could get into an argument here. But this article is blatant science denial. Climate change deniers and antivaxxers use the exact same approach “facts say X, but my feelings say Y”.