What's Been and What's Ben

There was a recent New York Times ARTICLE about the morality of dog fighting. Clearly the dog fighting part is barbaric. What about other animals? Pigs are just as intelligent (actually more so) and we treat them like the shit they so enjoy rolling around in (it is natural sunscreen). We draw a special line in the sand because most people don’t interact with farm animals on a daily basis. We would starve too if we raised cows with respect. It begs the question of what level of respect we should give what feeds us in an ideal world. Ultimately we are raising them only to be eaten.

My general approach is that anything with a central nervous system can feel what we call pain. Preventing pain is a good thing. The more developed the brain the more guilt I feel. Treating a monkey badly just feels worse than a dog which feels worse than a lizard. What if we bred livestock that did not have brains beyond basic body regulation? Wheat and corn is a guilt-free killing. I suppose the ultimate standard is removing biology from the equation by using chemistry and solar energy to create the exact stuff our body wants. This is far away and not fair to life in another way by denying its natural path. We natural sympathize in our brain which may mean this entire problem is really about us, although this Ayn Rand approach scares me with the emotionlessness.

I have wanted to use the word robotic in this entry for emotionlessness, but after thinking about it I would assume an artificial intelligence (engineered intelligence) would be very compassionate. Having empathy is really at the core of what being a thinking entity is all about.  It allows for abstraction from the self. A dog does not think of itself ever from the perspective of being as just another dog.