Thread

1. dr_dshiv · 1790246145 · focus · HN ↗

   Would it make the meat industry more ethical if happy drugs were made available to animals? If I had to choose between a meaningful (even if I didn’t know it when living), blissful unnatural life and none at all, I’d choose the former.

   It’s the negative affect and suffering (stress, pain, boredom etc) that is the bad part of eating animals.

   (I think— I know others have thought more than I on this topic)

   It just seems like an easier tech solution might be promising

   1. OroPla · 1790248350 · focus · HN ↗

      What I find interesting about this whole discourse is that the lived experience of animals matters to people. At all.

      Just a hundred, two hundred years ago we made the Elephant rifle, because a normal gun couldn't bring it down, but it was a fun sport to go out and kill just for the heck of it. No one cared about the animals.

      It seems like we are living in an age of suicidal empathy and I'm not sure how we got here.

      1. throwaway27448 · 1790279831 · focus · HN ↗

         What do you mean by suicidal?

         1. OroPla · 1790326017 · focus · HN ↗

            Considering starving yourself to death on a deserted island rather than eating meat an acceptable moral choice and not mental illness. Sacrificing your life to save an animal. Taking actions detrimental to your own well being for the benefit of animals.

            Suicidal empathy is when your feelings hurt more than your body, so you sacrifice yourself to feel good.

            1. throwaway27448 · 1790364223 · focus · HN ↗

               Ok, what does that have to do with reality? Nobody is starving to death looking at an animal they could have eaten. This seems like a blatant strawman.

               In fact, our addiction to beef seems straight suicidal. Hesitation to eat beef would improve our fitness as a species.

               1. throwaway27448 · 1790374250 · focus · HN ↗

                  To be clear, I am emphatically a meat-eater; I raise goats and chickens. I just don't understand your mindset at all.

                  It seems almost like you view domination of animals as an end rather than a means.

               2. OroPla · 1790439091 · focus · HN ↗

                  It's not about reality, it's about moral philosophy.

                  Not eating meat, eggs and honey because you feel sad about animals is now considered a valid moral position called veganism instead of mental illness.

                  I'm not talking about science (which still seems undecided on whether eating eggs is good or bad), I've observed shifting attitudes that originated from the USA and wonder why people feeling sad for animals is now considered a good reason to not eat various types of food.

                  In many ways, veganism seems like a budding religion that is trying to get off the ground, but instead of asking whether you are ready to accept Jesus as your savior they ask if you are ready to feel sad for animals.

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