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>Clusters of cells can't be 'tortured in a lab,' There is actually no way to know whether this is true. About all you can justifiably say is something like, "i
by axguscbklp 5y ago
>Clusters of cells can't be 'tortured in a lab,'
There is actually no way to know whether this is true. About all you can justifiably say is something like, "if it turns out that clusters of cells can experience suffering, well... we are already probably causing suffering anyway all the time to chickens and cows and who knows to what else, so it would not really be much of a change".
It is tempting to say that something that has no nervous system cannot suffer, but such an attitude is not scientifically justified. It is just folk speculation.
- mullingitover 5y agoI mean you obviously can't prove a negative, but it stands to reason that a biochemical automaton is no more capable of 'suffering' than a wristwatch. Suffering, as humans define it, is really only possible with consciousness.
- axguscbklp 5y agoYes, there can be no suffering without consciousness. However, I do not know of any way to determine whether any being other than oneself is conscious.