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Ask HN: Why do we kill and eat other living beings?

I've been to places where they take wandering lizards into their hands and leave them in a safe haven. Do we really have such a scarcity of food? Fellow HN'rs, it's my genuine question please.

ksaj 7y ago
Plants and fungi are living beings. We eat them for complementary reasons - what nutrition we don't get from one, we get from the others. I suspect you wish to engage in a veganist conversation, but until the "rules" are considered and applied with equal determination for fungi life forms, I have no interest in the debate that is most likely to emerge from this composed type of questioning. Verbal cherry picking is annoying to all except those in the echo chamber. Nobody has ever said they eat hamburgers only because carrots are so hard to come by. Scarcity is a clever ruse, but doesn't work here.
- pickdenis 7y ago
  Fine: replace "living" with "sentient". Do you still have a snarky answer?
  - ksaj 7y ago
    A fungus is able to search through a maze and apparently remember the route. Is it sentient? EDIT: Your concern as to whether I was snarky in my response glossed over the fact that there is an answer. Let's talk about that instead of proving my "snark" as the more important yet correct part.
    - pickdenis 7y ago
      Why are you trying to prove that fungi are sentient? You're just being disingenuous. The core issue is the fact that we kill and eat animals that feel pain and emotions (the "vegan debate", whatever), something that seems wrong at face value. How about addressing that instead of hiding behind annoying semantics? It's obviously what the OP meant. Look at your sibling comment for an example of a comment made by someone who actually cares about discussion and not winning stupid word wars. You both said the same thing in essence, but they don't come off as a prick.
- moreranchplease 7y ago
  Fungi aren't animals. They also don't have a central nervous system and they don't feel pain. also in most cases not killing the organism by eating a mushroom.
  - ksaj 7y ago
    From below: A fungus is able to search through a maze and apparently remember the route. Is it sentient?
    - moreranchplease 7y ago
      It can react to its environment. That's not the argument. The "rules" are it isn't an animal.
      - ksaj 7y ago
        If you are sticking to the argument so cleanly, then perhaps you can stick to my answer, which is at the beginning and not the end of the response you are speaking of. As I predicted, the purpose of this post was vegan debate, and my answer has been completely ignored.
        moreranchplease 7y ago
        Fungi aren't animals. Vegans don't eat animal products. Your answer was ignored because it is not relevant. If there's a diet you'd like to discuss that involves not eating fungi then go ahead and make a post for it.
        ksaj 7y ago
        My answer wasn't irrelevant. Go back and re-read it. It is clear the question asked is a ruse to goad people into a vegan debate. If you take OP as being 2 questions, then the first answer is at the beginning, and the answer to the goading question of food scarcity is the end. But the answer is clearly not what OP was after. Only vegan preaching was intended.
- moreranchplease 7y ago
  Ironically I think increased use in psychedelic mushrooms will lead to more people forgoing eating animals.
  - ksaj 7y ago
    You could argue that marijuana leads to a spike in people eating lots of corn (Doritos), legumes (Taco Bell) and tomato (pizza). Not such a bad world to consider.
QuantumAphid 7y ago
Because human physiology evolved in an environment in which critical nutrients were sourced predominantly (^exclusively animal in list below) in the flesh of animals. Examples of key animal-based nutrients: Vitamins: A, B6, B12^, D3^, F, K2^; Amino Acids: Creatine, Carnitine, Carnosine, Taurine; Heme Iron; CoQ10; CLA; Cholesterol This list does not include nutrients/vitamins which often lead to deficiencies when sourced in plants, due to very low bioavailability or antinutrients which block the absorption of the nutrients. So, why do we kill and eat other living beings? Because we evolved this way and it is part of our natural diet.
- moreranchplease 7y ago
  Vitamin A: widely available in plants not sure why this is listed. B6: also widely available in plants B12: Should be supplemented, most people get this from fortified foods. B12 deficiency is common across both vegans and those who eat animals. D3: main source is the sun. again, deficiency is common across both vegans and those who eat animals. F: This is common outside of the animal kingdom K2: Found in soy Amino acids: also found in most non animal foods. Creatine: For most people your body produces enough of this to function. This can be supplemented. Carnitine: your body uses the amino acids lysine and methionine to create carnitine. Taurine: not essential Heme iron: not essential and actually may be detrimental CoQ10: commonly found in vegan diets CLA: True, not found outside animals. CLA is controversial as there isn’t clear evidence on wether it is good or bad. It is not essential however. Cholesterol: Your body makes it. The most common deficiency among vegans is B12 I believe. There are millions of people thriving on a vegan diet. They consistently test with better biomarkers than non vegans. Many of your favorite celebrities are vegan, many athletes as well. The largest associations for both the U.S and E.U recognize vegan diets as safe and adequate for a healthy life. Yes we evolved to be able to eat many things and thrive. That doesn’t mean we need to.
  - pickdenis 7y ago
    I lived the first 18 years of my life as a healthy child that ate no meat. I now eat meat. Why? It's tasty and everyone else does it. Should we stop mass murdering sentient beings? Probably[1]. Is hunting and killing on an individual basis okay? I think that should be left to every individual to decide for themselves. If you don't want to kill animals, then don't. But don't stop me, a fellow animal, from doing it. [1]: Sadly, our economic system does not agree.
mimixco 7y ago
Because of biology. Also because the planet could not sustain its current population on plants alone. Finally, because they're delicious. The idea that animals should be spared from the dinner table is a quasi-religious viewpoint not shared by most people.
rpiguy 7y ago
Because they taste good.

I've been to places where they take wandering lizards into their hands and leave them in a safe haven. Do we really have such a scarcity of food? Fellow HN'rs, it's my genuine question please.

ksaj 7y ago

Plants and fungi are living beings. We eat them for complementary reasons - what nutrition we don't get from one, we get from the others. I suspect you wish to engage in a veganist conversation, but until the "rules" are considered and applied with equal determination for fungi life forms, I have no interest in the debate that is most likely to emerge from this composed type of questioning. Verbal cherry picking is annoying to all except those in the echo chamber. Nobody has ever said they eat hamburgers only because carrots are so hard to come by. Scarcity is a clever ruse, but doesn't work here.

pickdenis 7y ago
Fine: replace "living" with "sentient". Do you still have a snarky answer?
- ksaj 7y ago
  A fungus is able to search through a maze and apparently remember the route. Is it sentient? EDIT: Your concern as to whether I was snarky in my response glossed over the fact that there is an answer. Let's talk about that instead of proving my "snark" as the more important yet correct part.
  - pickdenis 7y ago
    Why are you trying to prove that fungi are sentient? You're just being disingenuous. The core issue is the fact that we kill and eat animals that feel pain and emotions (the "vegan debate", whatever), something that seems wrong at face value. How about addressing that instead of hiding behind annoying semantics? It's obviously what the OP meant. Look at your sibling comment for an example of a comment made by someone who actually cares about discussion and not winning stupid word wars. You both said the same thing in essence, but they don't come off as a prick.
moreranchplease 7y ago
Fungi aren't animals. They also don't have a central nervous system and they don't feel pain. also in most cases not killing the organism by eating a mushroom.
- ksaj 7y ago
  From below: A fungus is able to search through a maze and apparently remember the route. Is it sentient?
  - moreranchplease 7y ago
    It can react to its environment. That's not the argument. The "rules" are it isn't an animal.
    - ksaj 7y ago
      If you are sticking to the argument so cleanly, then perhaps you can stick to my answer, which is at the beginning and not the end of the response you are speaking of. As I predicted, the purpose of this post was vegan debate, and my answer has been completely ignored.
      - moreranchplease 7y ago
        Fungi aren't animals. Vegans don't eat animal products. Your answer was ignored because it is not relevant. If there's a diet you'd like to discuss that involves not eating fungi then go ahead and make a post for it.
        ksaj 7y ago
        My answer wasn't irrelevant. Go back and re-read it. It is clear the question asked is a ruse to goad people into a vegan debate. If you take OP as being 2 questions, then the first answer is at the beginning, and the answer to the goading question of food scarcity is the end. But the answer is clearly not what OP was after. Only vegan preaching was intended.
moreranchplease 7y ago
Ironically I think increased use in psychedelic mushrooms will lead to more people forgoing eating animals.
- ksaj 7y ago
  You could argue that marijuana leads to a spike in people eating lots of corn (Doritos), legumes (Taco Bell) and tomato (pizza). Not such a bad world to consider.

QuantumAphid 7y ago

Because human physiology evolved in an environment in which critical nutrients were sourced predominantly (^exclusively animal in list below) in the flesh of animals. Examples of key animal-based nutrients: Vitamins: A, B6, B12^, D3^, F, K2^; Amino Acids: Creatine, Carnitine, Carnosine, Taurine; Heme Iron; CoQ10; CLA; Cholesterol This list does not include nutrients/vitamins which often lead to deficiencies when sourced in plants, due to very low bioavailability or antinutrients which block the absorption of the nutrients. So, why do we kill and eat other living beings? Because we evolved this way and it is part of our natural diet.

moreranchplease 7y ago
Vitamin A: widely available in plants not sure why this is listed. B6: also widely available in plants B12: Should be supplemented, most people get this from fortified foods. B12 deficiency is common across both vegans and those who eat animals. D3: main source is the sun. again, deficiency is common across both vegans and those who eat animals. F: This is common outside of the animal kingdom K2: Found in soy Amino acids: also found in most non animal foods. Creatine: For most people your body produces enough of this to function. This can be supplemented. Carnitine: your body uses the amino acids lysine and methionine to create carnitine. Taurine: not essential Heme iron: not essential and actually may be detrimental CoQ10: commonly found in vegan diets CLA: True, not found outside animals. CLA is controversial as there isn’t clear evidence on wether it is good or bad. It is not essential however. Cholesterol: Your body makes it. The most common deficiency among vegans is B12 I believe. There are millions of people thriving on a vegan diet. They consistently test with better biomarkers than non vegans. Many of your favorite celebrities are vegan, many athletes as well. The largest associations for both the U.S and E.U recognize vegan diets as safe and adequate for a healthy life. Yes we evolved to be able to eat many things and thrive. That doesn’t mean we need to.
- pickdenis 7y ago
  I lived the first 18 years of my life as a healthy child that ate no meat. I now eat meat. Why? It's tasty and everyone else does it. Should we stop mass murdering sentient beings? Probably[1]. Is hunting and killing on an individual basis okay? I think that should be left to every individual to decide for themselves. If you don't want to kill animals, then don't. But don't stop me, a fellow animal, from doing it. [1]: Sadly, our economic system does not agree.

mimixco 7y ago

Because of biology. Also because the planet could not sustain its current population on plants alone. Finally, because they're delicious. The idea that animals should be spared from the dinner table is a quasi-religious viewpoint not shared by most people.

rpiguy 7y ago

Because they taste good.