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Except that (right or wrong) we most certainly weigh that against their intelligence.

• dools 11y ago
  We do?? Humans have been known to eat practically every animal, even those they use as beasts of burden or as working animals. EDIT: Just to be clear when I talk about enslaving animals I'm referring to use of animals in law enforcement, medicine, war, farming, hunting, for companionship, for food production, material production etc.
  • baconner 11y ago
    I was mainly thinking about food supply and medical testing but I think the rest apply as well. For instance I think it's generally considered more ethical to perform lethal medical testing on rats than gorillas. I think that's got a lot to do with species intelligence. There are plenty of people who don't weigh the ethics at all and just eat whatever animal they want, but in many societies eating a dolphin or a gorilla is considered repugnant. Perhaps it's more correct to say morals than ethics here.
    • dools 11y ago
      It's certainly a lot cheaper and quicker to use rats! Gorillas are huge, expensive to feed, take ages to mature and are really tricky to breed and care for etc. Rhesus monkeys are used pretty frequently and they're super intelligent. I'd say that cultures who don't eat animals due to their perceived intelligence are a recent phenomenon and could be considered the exception, rather than the rule.