Why does emet selch consider us not to be alive?

[Cleretic]

so let's say hypothetically there is a race of beings capable of seeing up to 100,000 years of lifespan, that seemingly have a consciousness that is completely inconprehensible to humans
let's call them dragons.
would the ascians respect those beings as equals?

No, because the Ascians aren't thinking about this so logically.

Dragons are not Ancients. Therefore, to the Ascians, they are beneath the Ancients. This is where the Ascians would start in their perception and outlook; any 'logic' stated by them in doing so would ultimately be justification rather than actual evidence. This is especially true with the fact that Midgardsormr, the only fully-powered dragon any of them know about, is an ally of Hydaelyn, so they're innately coming from a place of hatred. However, the exact same would be true if we were instead talking about Omega.

They are not going to see the dragons as equals, because to the Ascians, the Ancients have no equals.