Replace “particle” with “collection of particles” and you get roughly the same argument.
Not really. A collection of particles can occupy any of an astronomical number of states, while two “distinct” electrons are demonstrably identical in almost every respect. So an electron really can’t have an inner life. It’s pretty surprising that physics answers this question as decisively as it does, it’s only possible because exact identity has a distinguished role in quantum mechanics (basically, two sequences of events can interfere constructively or destructively only when they lead to exactly identical outcomes, so we can test that swapping the location of two electrons literally doesn’t change the universe at all).
That said, I basically agree with habryka that the OP doesn’t really address the possible view that simple physical operations are responsible for the vast majority of moral weight (expressed here).
Not really. A collection of particles can occupy any of an astronomical number of states, while two “distinct” electrons are demonstrably identical in almost every respect. So an electron really can’t have an inner life. It’s pretty surprising that physics answers this question as decisively as it does, it’s only possible because exact identity has a distinguished role in quantum mechanics (basically, two sequences of events can interfere constructively or destructively only when they lead to exactly identical outcomes, so we can test that swapping the location of two electrons literally doesn’t change the universe at all).
That said, I basically agree with habryka that the OP doesn’t really address the possible view that simple physical operations are responsible for the vast majority of moral weight (expressed here).