And what is my position, exactly? That it is fascinating how the human race has evolved this built in system of discerning/discriminating between one creature and another? You disagree with that?
I think you have brought up an interesting discussion which made me think. My daughter (vegetarian) asked me where I drew the line, she wouldnāt eat the sardine either but it left me asking hmm, where is my line? Sardine, lizard, dog? Iām not sure where that is TBH.
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I disagree that itās unethical or particularly unfair.
Do not ants bleed the same blood that we do?
Well, no. No, they donāt.
Well, okay, but do they not feel the same pain that we do?
Again, no. Not in any way. Neither physically or emotionally.
Puppies, regardless of comparative cuteness, do.
I didnāt say it was unethical or unfair. I was asking the question. Hereās a hypothetical. Go with me.
Suppose the human race got collectively abducted and placed on another inhabited planet were ALL the other creatures were superior in every conceivable way to us. In other words we were sort of like ants. But we still had all our feelings and senses that we now have. But the other creatures, being infinitely superior to us just crushed us under their feet like we do ants. Imagine how we would feel. This is just a fun discussion. People get too intellectual, itās just FUN FFS!!!
I wouldnāt call it fun, but itās an interesting distraction.
These aliens arenāt all that if they canāt tell we have emotions or experience pain, now, are they.
Clarification from my daughter. She wonāt eat anything with a face. No worries, steak doesnāt have a face.
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Itās a hypothetical situation to demonstrate how WE would feel, itās not about the farking aliens FFS.
Oh seriously I think Iāll have to give up.
Iām not sure thereās that much distinction, superficially, between a dog and an ants face.
And Iād kill a bug without hesitation, but I wouldnāt kill an octopus just because it got in my way.
Your comparison has to be relevant.
If āweā are the aliens in this scenario, then the aliens can tell if we are self-aware, have emotions, and experience pain.
As vastly superior intellects they must know this and would therefore treat us accordingly.
If they didnāt then that would be unethical.
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If you aim just right can you hit both?
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Listen carefully. IT IS NOT ABOUT THE ALIENS.
It is about how you would feel if your world was such that you were crushed under foot with utter disdain.
If you donāt get my point now, Iām done.
OK Iām done. See ya.
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Weād have the galaxyās biggest inferiority complex thatās for sure. Or would we?
People are interesting. Use Liberia as as example. The country was created by the American Colonization Society around 1850 because some thought at the time that emancipated slaves from the United States would have a better chance for prosperity if they lived back in Africa. Anyway, long story short, the immigrants from the US bullied the locals which then evolved into a caste system of sorts where they (and still are) positioned themselves higher in the social hierarchy than their indigenous countrymen.
So if humans were transported to another planet and the apex life-form treated us like we treat ants, I bet we would find another life-form that we could treat in an equally disparaging way.
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You need a better metaphor.
Again, youāre literally asking how I would feel.
If I was an ant, I wouldnāt feel anything.
No pain, no sadness, no regret that I had not lived a better ant life before the alien squashed me.
Itās not a matter of size or significance.
I, for one, miss him already
i remember he asked a question once that I had also questioned. Something like why we view the top of world/universe as the top, and the bottom as the bottom. Why is it like that and not the other way around. Or like the northern hemisphere on the right and the southern hemisphere on the left.
You guys are bullies.
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Iāve often pondered this. Suppose a physically and intellectually superior race of aliens developed a taste for humans, I donāt think we could provide valid rationale for not being eaten that didnāt make us look like hypocrites.
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You donāt think the fact that we were arguing our case at all would be enough?
Meaning that we were capable of doing so? (as opposed to the animals that we eat that arenāt highly evolved enough to do so)
No. But I certainly can appreciate your point.
Do they understand us? Cows moo at me all the time and i keep eating them. What if theyāre arguing their case?
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