Thread

1. georgemcbay · 1789884732 · focus · HN ↗

   Blows my mind that so many people just have this hardened internalized idea that we're somehow significantly different than any other animal.

   Sure, we've got them beat on language and planning, but we're currently in the process of being passed up on both those fronts by multi-dimensional arrays of floating point numbers sitting inside of sand. So, like, how special is that then, really?

   1. krupan · 1789923830 · focus · HN ↗

      There is no survival for us without hurting some other living organism. Even a purely vegan diet (which does not provide the complete nutrition we need) hurts plants and other critters that also want to eat those same plants or use them for shelter or whatever. So, I agree that we probably shouldn't feel too superior or different from other living things, but we also don't need to beat ourselves up for hurting other living things. We can't eat rocks.

      1. nihakue · 1789935223 · focus · HN ↗

         You cannot do no harm, you can still do less harm. I suspect you agree with this, but I wonder if you would phrase it this way

         1. krupan · 1790004197 · focus · HN ↗

            You should certainly try to do the least amount of harm possible. We don't really understand what harm is in all cases. We don't fully understand the lived experience of a chicken or the lettuce plant we cut up or the rabbit that died because we ate his lettuce. You could really tie yourself in knots trying to figure out what is less harmful overall.

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