It’s the common viewpoint, outside of over-intellectual insanely rich discussion groups. It doesn’t get discussed much because there’s no need to defend it—just go on with your life. And because there’s a subset of vegetarian and vegan proponents who will be uncomfortable around such arguments, and that may make you uncomfortable as well.
I eat meat. I eat factory-farmed meat. I do care about animal suffering (and animal joy and the question of “what’s a net-positive life?” for all things). I weight my caring by some high-order function of complexity of mind-space, so I care FAR FAR more about the least human than I do the most exalted cow, and I care about diversity in experience-space, so I care for a marginal factory animal (who’s extremely similar in experience to all the others) less than a wild animal or a pet.
It’s the common viewpoint, outside of over-intellectual insanely rich discussion groups. It doesn’t get discussed much because there’s no need to defend it—just go on with your life. And because there’s a subset of vegetarian and vegan proponents who will be uncomfortable around such arguments, and that may make you uncomfortable as well.
I eat meat. I eat factory-farmed meat. I do care about animal suffering (and animal joy and the question of “what’s a net-positive life?” for all things). I weight my caring by some high-order function of complexity of mind-space, so I care FAR FAR more about the least human than I do the most exalted cow, and I care about diversity in experience-space, so I care for a marginal factory animal (who’s extremely similar in experience to all the others) less than a wild animal or a pet.