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I’ve said this before here on HN when the octopus came up but I’ll say it again: these creatures are so damn smart I stopped eating them when I consume sushi. M
by gigatexal 7y ago
I’ve said this before here on HN when the octopus came up but I’ll say it again: these creatures are so damn smart I stopped eating them when I consume sushi. Many animals possess advanced intellect so I’ve limited my consumption of animals but it’s the octopus that has a special place in my eyes. What majestic creatures. The females find a rock to give birth to the next generation and slowly starve to death while doing so. As soon I learned that I thought of my own single mom while she didn’t give her life raising me or my sister she did sacrifice a lot.
- ericmay 7y agoI don’t think it makes sense to say “you look cute or seem smart” as the criteria for not destroying a creature. Everything is intelligent, it’s just a spectrum of intelligence. Makes more sense given we can’t really discern on that spectrum to just try and eat fewer of any animal, not just octopi, but birds and mammals as well. Mammals in particular if you use this criteria to not eat octopi.
- hackstack 7y agoI made a similar decision to the GP -- it is not just that the octopus is intelligent (pigs are smart too, but I'm less perturbed by eating them). The octopus is such a vastly different creature to most/all other animals that we eat. To me, it feels more like eating a totally alien lifeform, which (subjectively, to me) is a greater pity than just eating something that is smart, but is pretty similar to all other animals (e.g. fish or mammals)
- neuronic 7y agoWhat basically kicked off major concerns for me were articles and reports about human cases where people are too disabled to express their emotions and thoughts. Think strokes, major head trauma or birth defects. From this perspective, I would at the very least become far more careful about judging animals too quickly. Just because we cannot read them and interpret their emotions doesn't mean they don't feel love, comfort, fear, amusement or terror. How long did it take for us to understand that lobsters feel excruciating pain when boiled alive? It took microbiology to figure that out... whoopsy, what are those pain hormones doing here?
- Ultimatt 7y agoWe have no idea if they feel excruciating pain we know they have a pain and stress response. That isn't actually the same thing. But why not play it safe.
- viscanti 7y ago> Just because we cannot read them and interpret their emotions doesn't mean they don't feel love, comfort, fear, amusement or terror. What makes us so confident that plants don't also meet this criteria? Can lab grown algae burgers feel love? How would we know? I'm not trying to argue that we should stop eating everything. But I'm not sure how we'd draw a line between some/all animals and other things that are even harder to read. I'm genuinely curious where we'd draw a line.
- claudiawerner 7y agoThe line drawn by many vegetarians and vegans is a lack of a central nervous system - but even they admit this is arbitrary.
- gbjw 7y agoTo add to this, there is also another line you can draw: do not eat anything which requires killing (not just harvesting from) another living thing. This is basically the line drawn by Jain vegetarians (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_vegetarianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_vegetarianism). This allows one to eat milk and dairy but does not allow one to eat root vegetables that require you to kill the entire organism to eat it (and potentially other living beings that live in the soil).
- bduerst 7y agoSame - I don't eat any cephalopods now. As an avid diver who has interacted with octopodes and cuttlefish, they really are fantastic creatures and it bothers me to see them on a plate. I also worked on a farm growing up, and though they show signs of intelligence too, pigs never really struck me the same way.
- agumonkey 7y agoThe most touching part is that the very last moments of her life will be to spend whatever energy is left after heating the nest to swim far away to avoid attracting predators near the offsprings. Bond by sacrifice .. who would have known.
- gameswithgo 7y agosame. it is a shame they do not live longer!
- mmmatriarchy 7y agoI wonder, though. Here is a thought experiment. What if eating another creature was seen as an act of respect and tribute? I for one enjoy eating highly intelligent animals. I see it as a priviledge to do so. For that reason, if octopus is on the menu you can bet I'm going to eat some.
- suby 7y agoImagine an alien civilization applying that logic to human beings. I for one wouldn't feel privileged to be used as cattle for the consumption of another advanced species.
- djmips 7y agoI assure you, I am rather stupid.
- BlueTemplar 7y agoI wonder how Stephen Hawking would have tasted like?