undefined | Better HN

0 pointsfgfarben2mo ago0 comments

> we force-breed, torture and kill animals and their children in the millions every day just for the pleasure of consuming meat, eggs and dairy products

We do the same thing to plants. Why do you have no qualms about killing plants to eat the food they accumulated for their young?

A grain of wheat and a chicken egg are evolutionarily and nutritionally, maybe even ontologically, indistinguishable from one another.

0 comments

lachs2k2mo ago

I am not aware of any plants that show signs of consciousness or feelings. This would even by disadvantageous to many plants because they "want" parts of them to be eaten to disperse seeds, pollen, etc.

Even if you accept that plants might be conscious and their suffering has to be reduced, you would still harm way fewer plants by eating them directly instead of eating other animals that consume them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_level

c222mo ago

Perhaps you are not looking that closely? Plants have memory and demonstrate directed action through time and space. They can respond to touch, light, sound, and chemical signalling from other plants, insects, and fungi. What are the fingerprints of consciousness and feelings that you are looking for?

arbitrary_name2mo ago

arguing on hn

vjerancrnjak2mo ago

Your “what about plants” argument is such a worn-out trope that you must have seen it before and read a valid explanation of why it makes no sense.

Peter Singer has been writing on the topic for decades, including others. What-about-plants needs to fade away.

bondarchuk2mo ago

That's fair, but "what about animals" is to "we should not torture human brain organoids" as "what about plants" is to "we should not torture animals".

fgfarbenOP2mo ago

I am suffering substantially more psychic damage from being forced to watch videos of pig euthanasia at meathouses than any pig has ever suffered from being euthanized at one of those meathouses, because I have 10x the neurons as a pig and therefore e^10 more capacity for pain.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse