We chose whats worthy of living and whats not.

C

chris4355

Registered Senior Member
As far as I can tell a tree is as alive as an ant, which is as alive as a cow, which is just as alive as a dog.

Argument: Its generally okay to kill a tree or an ant, yet not okay to kill a dog (except some countries).

That leads me to one conclusion: we choose what should be alive and what should not be alive simply based upon how emotionally attached we are to them.

Discuss.
 
Yes I agree we do choose what we kill based on attachment but there's more to it I think. Sometimes you can kill something because you are immune to its sentient nature or because it isn't high enough on the food chain or because we simply see it as food. For example some Asians (don't know about others) have no problem eating dog. Dogs can be pets but it can also serve as a meal. Many now would grieve for a whale being impaled to death but feel nothing for a trout. Some cultures tend to not eat monkey because its seen as too closely related to our own species but to the chinese monkey brain is an expensive delicacy. We feel nothing about picking a pretty flower which essentially removes it from its life source because we know it won't last long anyway and the bush will grow another. Why do americans balk at eating horse? In other cultures horse is as reasonable as eating cow. In India cow is sacred but other meat is acceptable (vegetarians aside of course). We can kill insects by the hundreds because in certain situations they're pests to be rid of, but if you live in an area where monkeys come unto your balcony you would find other means of dealing with the menace outside of taking a shotgun and blowing it away. How often have we swatted a fly or mosquito to death? Is it wrong? I don't think so, not in the case of mosquitoes or flies anyway:shrug:
 
Tree's don't seem to have any form of consciousness and they don't have a nervous system, and ants are more primitive than dogs, and the population of ants is so high that one killed wouldn't cause harm.
 
chris4355 said:
That leads me to one conclusion: we choose what should be alive and what should not be alive simply based upon how emotionally attached we are to them.
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You should be careful about throwing the word "we" around so casually. "We" are often prevented from killing things by how "OTHERS" feel about them. I.e., "society" makes laws, etc, that "we" might not agree with ...yet "we" have to abide by those laws or "they" throw "us" in jail.

Careful with the word "we" ...it can have lots of different meanings in different contexts.

Baron Max
 
Chris, I agree with your statement, but do you oppose that practice or mindset? (However you'd word it.)

Although, I don't think its pure emotion at work in deciding what lives or dies. Some of its practicality, or survival. A dog can be a useful companion, as can a horse. Flies or ants aren't practical to have around, and they can actually be dangerous (flies laying eggs on a livestock animals wound, which turn to maggots, which eat their way to the inside of the animal. Nasty sight.), so its hard to feel remorse for a dead fly.

Trees are very essential to humanity's survival, so I don't think all trees are in danger.
 
Naturelles said:
Tree's don't seem to have any form of consciousness and they don't have a nervous system, and ants are more primitive than dogs, and the population of ants is so high that one killed wouldn't cause harm.
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I don't know what consciousness means, maybe we are just as a alive as a tree but much more complex.

There are 6 billion humans, does that make 1 humans life less valuable. I dont know, not to me.

ShredMetalBlues said:
Chris, I agree with your statement, but do you oppose that practice or mindset? (However you'd word it.)

Although, I don't think its pure emotion at work in deciding what lives or dies. Some of its practicality, or survival. A dog can be a useful companion, as can a horse. Flies or ants aren't practical to have around, and they can actually be dangerous (flies laying eggs on a livestock animals wound, which turn to maggots, which eat their way to the inside of the animal. Nasty sight.), so its hard to feel remorse for a dead fly.

Trees are very essential to humanity's survival, so I don't think all trees are in danger.
Click to expand...

I understand how its not necessarily how we look at them emotionally but how we value them. That sure holds some truth too.

And yes, I believe in this practice, if I opposed it I would die, I mean, you need to eat plants and animals to survive right?

I just thought its interesting how we view different lives as one more valuable than another, sometimes simply based on how the living creature looks.
 
Killing is always traumatic to anything which is alive. Even amoebas will seek to avoid damage and try to destroy intracellular invaders.

Killing is also an integral and inescapable part of how life has evolved. So integral that trying to remove it is extremely disruptive and destructive.

If you want some really horrific photos, track down what happened to the deer after Bambi came out and hunting was out lawed in some places. Entire ecosystems were trashed, starvation and disease rampant. Piles of deer rotting in the raped forests while the emaciated remaining deer chew bark off the trees.
 
swarm said:
If you want some really horrific photos, track down what happened to the deer after Bambi came out and hunting was out lawed in some places. Entire ecosystems were trashed, starvation and disease rampant. Piles of deer rotting in the raped forests while the emaciated remaining deer chew bark off the trees.
Click to expand...

And that same/similar scenario will happen with humans if they continue to breed without limit as they are now in many parts of the world. In fact, its happening right now in some of the poorer parts of the world ...Haiti comes to mind.

Baron Max
 
chris4355 said:
As far as I can tell a tree is as alive as an ant, which is as alive as a cow, which is just as alive as a dog.

Argument: Its generally okay to kill a tree or an ant, yet not okay to kill a dog (except some countries).

That leads me to one conclusion: we choose what should be alive and what should not be alive simply based upon how emotionally attached we are to them.

Discuss.
Click to expand...


So one day I get angry about what you said and kill you, would that be OK?
 
Baron Max said:
And that same/similar scenario will happen with humans if they continue to breed without limit as they are now in many parts of the world. In fact, its happening right now in some of the poorer parts of the world ...Haiti comes to mind.

Baron Max
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EXACTLY,
Which is why I wanted to bitchslap the author of that thread a while back with the title of something like 'humans should be able to grow/populate without bounds/limits' What kind of retard posts some shit like that?

As sadistic as this sounds, I am happy for uber destructive natural disasters. I see it as population control.
It was sad to see the aftermath of the 2003 tsunami in the South Pacific, but it was also a form of population control too.
 
Those 'breeding' in poorer parts of the world have populations controlled by disease, famine, war, natural disasters and climate change. Those breeding in richer parts of the world have populations controlled by educating women, free access to birth control, disease, natural disasters, climate change:

NEXT.
 
swarm said:
Killing is always traumatic to anything which is alive. Even amoebas will seek to avoid damage and try to destroy intracellular invaders.

Killing is also an integral and inescapable part of how life has evolved. So integral that trying to remove it is extremely disruptive and destructive.

If you want some really horrific photos, track down what happened to the deer after Bambi came out and hunting was out lawed in some places. Entire ecosystems were trashed, starvation and disease rampant. Piles of deer rotting in the raped forests while the emaciated remaining deer chew bark off the trees.
Click to expand...

"This is necessary, Life feeds on life feeds on.... "

-Maynard James Keenan
 
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