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First: I find this kind of research valuable, I think mankind will benefit from it. But now, the discussion question: What would people say if this experiment

First: I find this kind of research valuable, I think mankind will benefit from it. But now, the discussion question: What would people say if this experimentation were being done on puppies, or rabbits, or baby seals? Why are fruit flies different?

Majromax 6y ago
> What would people say if this experimentation were being done on puppies, or rabbits, or baby seals? Why are fruit flies different? Because we as a society explicitly assign different levels of moral worth to different animals. Fruit flies have greater worth than bacteria or yeast but lesser worth than mammals, which in turn have lesser worth than primates or humans (as subcategories of mammals). That's an inherent problem to in vivo studies: we're fine with experiments on bacteria or yeast but we'd all be horrified at unconsenting experiment on humans. There's a line, and we must draw it somewhere.
landa 6y ago
You're being down-voted, but I think it's a valid point. Just because fruit flies are simpler organisms, doesn't mean we should be sleep depriving them until they die. Sounds very cruel. I look forward to the day when scientific progress in biological sciences doesn't necessitate having to harm any living creatures at all.