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#1
02-07-2012, 09:57 AM
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1. I never claimed you did. It's just that there are a few here that do take a robotic approach to animals, and I thought I might as well toss it out there now to cut that mindset off at the knees before someone brought it up, and your post that at least could have been interpretted by these people to mean that animals lack consciousness was a good place to insert it.
2. How do we know they don't? Animals know when they do right or wrong if we condition them to. This demonstrates they have the capacity to make these connections, and they likely do in the wild. Animals have also been witnessed mourning their dead (one specific example I heard was Magpies, which brought small bits of foliage to a fallen bird and stood around it for a while in a sort of vigil before flying off). Animals also demonstrate compassion and love beyond simply mating (elephants, for example). Animals are more complex than our old vision of them used to be (eat, sleep, and screw). Before we declare them to have intrinsically less value than even the lowest humans, I think we need to learn more about who we are sharing this planet with, and just how powerful their minds truly are. 3. Why, though? One is a murderer, the other a hero. Does the precedent that each one set for themselves not matter? Even if Gacy continued to rape and murder for the rest of his life, would you still say he has more intrinsic value than an animal which has proven itself a useful counterpart to the human race, and would continue to be had it lived? One takes lives, the other saves them. That information alone would tip the balance of value toward the latter, but all of a sudden simply learning of species flips this? That just seems off to me... PS: Welcome back. 
__________________
 The Dreamer's Manifesto Mike Malloy, a voice of reason in a world gone mad. "You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling." - Inception "Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy **** we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off." - Tyler Durden Last edited by Tsyal Makto; 02-07-2012 at 10:01 AM. 
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