my primary question for today: would you expect a positive or a negative correlation between mental ability and ability to feel pain? Most people unthinkingly assume a positive correlation, but why?
Basically, I think that the extent to which my brain labels something as suffering is based on my ability to empathize with that thing on an emotional level. My ability to do that is based on how well my mirror neurons can induce a similar feeling in me.
This winds up basically saying that I care about/notice suffering based on how similar a being is to myself. I see humans losing loved ones and being injured as suffering. When my dog cowers during thunderstorms I think she’s suffering. When I see a snake dying painfully, I feel bad, but not nearly as bad as I (imagine I) would seeing a mammal die. I think killing ants is somewhat sadistic, but I don’t particularly care about the ant’s death. If said ants are in my house, its fair game to attempt a genocide on them. Plants are totally okay to murder, IMO.
The more I find out about how various animals are smart in ways similar to me, the more I feel that they can suffer.
Going back to the question, I think the reason that people think that increased intelligence means increased capacity to suffer is that for the reference class of things we’ve come across, intelligence correlates with similarity to ourselves as humans.
I imagine that I would empathize pretty well with a Neanderthal.
Basically, I think that the extent to which my brain labels something as suffering is based on my ability to empathize with that thing on an emotional level. My ability to do that is based on how well my mirror neurons can induce a similar feeling in me.
This winds up basically saying that I care about/notice suffering based on how similar a being is to myself. I see humans losing loved ones and being injured as suffering. When my dog cowers during thunderstorms I think she’s suffering. When I see a snake dying painfully, I feel bad, but not nearly as bad as I (imagine I) would seeing a mammal die. I think killing ants is somewhat sadistic, but I don’t particularly care about the ant’s death. If said ants are in my house, its fair game to attempt a genocide on them. Plants are totally okay to murder, IMO.
The more I find out about how various animals are smart in ways similar to me, the more I feel that they can suffer.
Going back to the question, I think the reason that people think that increased intelligence means increased capacity to suffer is that for the reference class of things we’ve come across, intelligence correlates with similarity to ourselves as humans.
I imagine that I would empathize pretty well with a Neanderthal.