I think it's fun to step on ants. So what?

tnerb said:
You don't like it when someone thinks for themselves?

You are just as insane as the thread starter!!!:eek:
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Never said this. I said I dislike when people accept a belief as fact. Believe whatever you want, but please don't persecute those who believe differently.
 
The Breaker said:
Forgive me, but I am confused.
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When you see ants writhe in a mangled frenzy, what makes you think Ants cannot feel agony, they cannot feel anxiety, they cannot feel fear, ants cannot feel any emotions. They do not have a sufficiently developed brain to do so. ...... I mean its not like they are indifferent to their own demise at the hands (or heels) of others
 
lightgigantic said:
When you see ants writhe in a mangled frenzy, what makes you think Ants cannot feel agony, they cannot feel anxiety, they cannot feel fear, ants cannot feel any emotions. They do not have a sufficiently developed brain to do so. ...... I mean its not like they are indifferent to their own demise at the hands (or heels) of others
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"Invertebrates show few, if any, of the behaviours that we would recognize as evidence of emotion. Many invertebrates are cannibalistic, and many eat their young when given the chance. Most have no social behaviour. Although they can respond vigorously to noxious stimuli, even this response is inconsistent. Insects, for example, will continue with normal activity even after severe injury. An insect walking with a crushed lower leg will continue applying it to the ground with undiminished force. Locusts will writhe when sprayed with DDT. However, they will also continue feeding while being eaten by a praying mantid."

Again I can not post links, so you must do the research for yourself. Your right, they are not indifferent to their own demise, because their demise may harm the colony. Ants are not like you and me, they do not care about their own well being. They care only the safety of their colony. Ants will fight to the death, even when severly injured, to protect their nest.
 
Thrylix said:
It's not sadism or being a psychopath. It's just habit or boredom when I'm sitting a picnic with my girlfriend and I see them crawling on to my sneakers (annoying). Or when I'm playing soccer with my friends and I slowly stomp an anthill with one cleat to see how many I can crush at once. I don't do it for any particular reason... I just get a kick out of it. It's like asking someone why they kick a rock when they can just as easily not.

Why should I care about the lives of little bugs that just crawl around and move stuff? As far as I care, I'm a higher and much huger life form, so my temporary amusement is more important to me than their tiny little lives. If the last thing the bastards get to see over their heads are the bottom of my giant, stinking feet about to crunch their puny little selves into jelly because I think it's funny, then tough luck for them. It's survival of the biggest.

Disagree?
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are your actions mature and necessary ?
 
The Breaker said:
"Invertebrates show few, if any, of the behaviours that we would recognize as evidence of emotion. Many invertebrates are cannibalistic, and many eat their young when given the chance. Most have no social behaviour. Although they can respond vigorously to noxious stimuli, even this response is inconsistent. Insects, for example, will continue with normal activity even after severe injury. An insect walking with a crushed lower leg will continue applying it to the ground with undiminished force. Locusts will writhe when sprayed with DDT. However, they will also continue feeding while being eaten by a praying mantid."
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so their responses are automatic, much like a spring that might go flying from the back of an opened up watch? Yes?
Again I can not post links, so you must do the research for yourself. Your right, they are not indifferent to their own demise, because their demise may harm the colony. Ants are not like you and me, they do not care about their own well being. They care only the safety of their colony. Ants will fight to the death, even when severly injured, to protect their nest.
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And if we say that this is a good enough reason to kill them whimsically, in what way does this establish a human acting to their greatest possible ability?
 
The Breaker said:
It's not beside the point. Both bacteria and ants will react in order to avoid aversive stimuli, yet neither are generally regarded as being able to feel pain.
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So what is feeling pain exactly ? I thought pain was exactly what you describe there..

Edit: And it IS besides the point. See thread title.
 
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The Breaker said:
But that's what this thread has evolved into. Ants cannot feel agony, they cannot feel anxiety, they cannot feel fear, ants cannot feel any emotions. They do not have a sufficiently developed brain to do so.
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Says who ? You ?

What is pain ?
 
The Breaker said:
Never said this. I said I dislike when people accept a belief as fact. Believe whatever you want, but please don't persecute those who believe differently.
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I think it's rather you and the thread starter that act on believe..
 
The Breaker said:
"Invertebrates show few, if any, of the behaviours that we would recognize as evidence of emotion. Many invertebrates are cannibalistic, and many eat their young when given the chance. Most have no social behaviour. Although they can respond vigorously to noxious stimuli, even this response is inconsistent. Insects, for example, will continue with normal activity even after severe injury. An insect walking with a crushed lower leg will continue applying it to the ground with undiminished force. Locusts will writhe when sprayed with DDT. However, they will also continue feeding while being eaten by a praying mantid."

Again I can not post links, so you must do the research for yourself. Your right, they are not indifferent to their own demise, because their demise may harm the colony. Ants are not like you and me, they do not care about their own well being. They care only the safety of their colony. Ants will fight to the death, even when severly injured, to protect their nest.
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You must be.. no I'll refrain..
 
The Breaker said:
Never said this. I said I dislike when people accept a belief as fact. Believe whatever you want, but please don't persecute those who believe differently.
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Don't be silly. Where is the persecution. We are stating that someone who delights in killing has very likely got a screw loose somewhere. I can understand the hunter who bags a couple of geese. They are engaging in what at one time all humans engaged in - hunting and therfore killing for survival.

That is quite different from killing for the sake of killing which is what the OP enjoys doing. Telling him we think he is a sick nutter is hardly persecuting him. Persecuting him would be finding out where he lives and staging a 24 hour protest outside his home seven days a week.
 
S.A.M. said:
Do you wash with soap that kills bacteria?

What about brushing teeth?

How big does something have to be to be recognised as having the right to life?
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I can't speak for everyone else here, but I don't feel any particular empathy or sympathy for ants, and I don't really care at all if an ant (or a whole colony of ants) lives or dies. I do, however, care about people who display an enjoyment of killing for its own sake. More specifically, I suspect they probably have a few screws loose. Having an enjoyment of killing isn't a trait that's likely to help a person fit into a peaceful modern society. When people wash their hand or brush their teeth they aren't doing it for the thrill of killing the bacteria.
 
Enmos said:
Says who ? You ?

What is pain ?
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Your right, I don't know. I am stating a theory which is based on observation and evidence. I will never be an ant, so I will never know truly what they feel. The part of the brain which interprets pain is absent in ants. Ants don't even have a centralized brain at all. There is no evolutionary reason for an ant to feel pain. In vertebrates pain evolved as an educational tool, if it hurts, you will not do it again. Ants do not have a brain which can store memories like ours. There is no reason for an ant to feel pain.
 
Ophiolite said:
Don't be silly. Where is the persecution. We are stating that someone who delights in killing has very likely got a screw loose somewhere. I can understand the hunter who bags a couple of geese. They are engaging in what at one time all humans engaged in - hunting and therfore killing for survival.

That is quite different from killing for the sake of killing which is what the OP enjoys doing. Telling him we think he is a sick nutter is hardly persecuting him. Persecuting him would be finding out where he lives and staging a 24 hour protest outside his home seven days a week.
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Perhaps I'm mistaken, but it seems to me that enmos has frequently condemned the OP for his statements going so far as to say that maybe he should be put out his misery. I am saddened that people want to kill each other over differences of opinions.

How is hunting any different? In my opinion it is worse. In hunting's case, you are killing something that does not want die, it does feel fear, anxiety, and other emotions. I don't condemn the hunter either though. Everyone has some "screws lose". No one is "normal", we all have an quirks.
 
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