Of course you can make almost anything unrecognizable, but that's just getting away with it. It doesn't erase the original recording's copyright, and that's exactly the point I was trying to get across to the OP & other beginners - if you sample without consent, go ahead, but be aware that there's no point at which it technically becomes legal. Not "don't do it" but "understand what you're doing"; changing something enough doesn't change that. Look up the NWA/Funkadelic case, as it's a good example - the lower court ruled the sample short & unrecognizable (because it's been pitched & is only two seconds long), but this was overturned.
I perfectly understand what you're saying, though, and this shouldn't stop anyone from experimenting with sampling.