I do not eat steak, because I am uncertain of what my own morality outputs with respect to steak-eating. It seems reasonable to me to imagine that cows are capable of experiencing pain, of fearing death. Of being, and ceasing to be. If you are like the majority of human beings, you do eat steak. The propositions I have suggested do not seem reasonable to you.
Do you imagine that there are facts about the brains of cattle which we could both learn—facts drawn from fMRI scans, or from behavioral science experiments, perhaps—which would bring us into agreement on the issue?
I do not eat steak, because I am uncertain of what my own morality outputs with respect to steak-eating. It seems reasonable to me to imagine that cows are capable of experiencing pain, of fearing death. Of being, and ceasing to be. If you are like the majority of human beings, you do eat steak. The propositions I have suggested do not seem reasonable to you.
Do you imagine that there are facts about the brains of cattle which we could both learn—facts drawn from fMRI scans, or from behavioral science experiments, perhaps—which would bring us into agreement on the issue?
No. I agree with those facts and think that eating steak is a good idea anyway.
I’m curious: Would you eat Yoda?
BTW, if you’re the original Unknown, please see Open Thread for a query about our outstanding bet.
By the way, is there any way to get back my original username? I didn’t know how to do it when things were moved over from OB.
I would eat sentient creatures but not intelligent creatures. And even in the case of sentient non-intelligent ones it depends on what I’m used to.