> The suffering of non-human animals holds zero moral weight.
That's just false. Do you think humans are some God chosen species which makes them magically matter while the rest (including aliens on other planets I suppose) lacks that godly spark?
> I am having trouble deciding if a conversation with you is possible, you do not seem to be a rational being. You use the word "bad" in a way that another person would if they were saying "this is either bad for me personally, for those I care about, or humanity in general".
Yeah, and any normal human would understand the sentences "my cat hurt its foot, I hope it doesn't suffer too much." and "If it suffers, that would be bad".
> Does that mean you'd include sea urchins and wombats in "humanity in general"? If it did, then you're mentally ill in a way I'm not qualified to treat.
Who said sea urchins are humans?
> When a lion eats a gazelle in Africa (or anywhere else, I suppose, if such events occur), it is nothing that I or other humans should care about. It does not matter that the lion eats it while it is alive instead of "slaughtering it humanely" (imagine how I have to word that idea, it's absurd).
Well, humans can do little about suffering of animals in the wild, but that doesn't mean their suffering doesn't matter. Your own pain doesn't matter less when it can't be treated.
> If I could push a button to increase the intensity of that "suffering" a thousandfold, or increase its quantity (or even both!), is there any reason not to push that button? If I didn't push the button, mind you, it would only be because the suffering of those gazelles matters not to me one way or the other. If I could decrease the intensity/quantity with a different button, I wouldn't push it either... and for the same reason.
That's just false. Do you think humans are some God chosen species which makes them magically matter while the rest (including aliens on other planets I suppose) lacks that godly spark?
> I am having trouble deciding if a conversation with you is possible, you do not seem to be a rational being. You use the word "bad" in a way that another person would if they were saying "this is either bad for me personally, for those I care about, or humanity in general".
Yeah, and any normal human would understand the sentences "my cat hurt its foot, I hope it doesn't suffer too much." and "If it suffers, that would be bad".
> Does that mean you'd include sea urchins and wombats in "humanity in general"? If it did, then you're mentally ill in a way I'm not qualified to treat.
Who said sea urchins are humans?
> When a lion eats a gazelle in Africa (or anywhere else, I suppose, if such events occur), it is nothing that I or other humans should care about. It does not matter that the lion eats it while it is alive instead of "slaughtering it humanely" (imagine how I have to word that idea, it's absurd).
Well, humans can do little about suffering of animals in the wild, but that doesn't mean their suffering doesn't matter. Your own pain doesn't matter less when it can't be treated.
> If I could push a button to increase the intensity of that "suffering" a thousandfold, or increase its quantity (or even both!), is there any reason not to push that button? If I didn't push the button, mind you, it would only be because the suffering of those gazelles matters not to me one way or the other. If I could decrease the intensity/quantity with a different button, I wouldn't push it either... and for the same reason.
This seriously sounds psychopathic.