• morphballganon@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    How do you decide which species it is appropriate to slaughter? Can humanity come to a consensus on which species it is ok to slaughter? If we can’t come to a consensus, who gets to decide? Is it appropriate to let individuals decide the fate of species?

    I’m not actually a vegetarian but I like trying to understand other views.

    Maybe on another world, creatures like us are lower on the food chain and get slaughtered like how we slaughter turkeys. Would you ask the creatures on the top of that food chain to stop? How would you convince them?

    • psud@aussie.zoneOP
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      10 months ago

      How do you decide which species it is appropriate to slaughter?

      The ones that taste the best, taste is an excellent guide to what’s good for us, sugar and cocaine aside

      Can humanity come to a consensus on which species it is ok to slaughter?

      No chance. Cow is my favourite food, but is sacred in India. Wombat was a favourite food of indigenous Australians, but modern Aussies wouldn’t dream of killing one

      If we can’t come to a consensus, who gets to decide? Is it appropriate to let individuals decide the fate of species?

      Region by region. I won’t eat dog, but I don’t complain when the Chinese do. When we decide an animal is good food, that animal gets far higher population than it would in the wild

      I’m not actually a vegetarian but I like trying to understand other views.

      Me too. I thought this place with its large population of presumably vegans would be a good one to talk with them

      Maybe on another world, creatures like us are lower on the food chain and get slaughtered like how we slaughter turkeys. Would you ask the creatures on the top of that food chain to stop? How would you convince them?

      I have read that book, Sherrie Tepper - family tree (if I recall correctly)

      We have that here. Australian indigenous in the north are occasionally preyed upon by crocodiles. I’m not going to tell those people to act differently and I don’t think one can negotiate with crocodiles.

      Star trek did it too, in the Discovery series, with one of the crew being a refugee from a planet where a genuinely sentient creature is farmed by more powerful creatures

      I presume humans would try to change the aliens though, I’ll leave it to the philosophers to work out whether we should, but my feeling is we shouldn’t disturb them