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Animals that are both higher intelligence in our perception and closer to us day to day will fall into the category of disgust, imo. For instance, I've had dogs

by kodah 4y ago

Animals that are both higher intelligence in our perception and closer to us day to day will fall into the category of disgust, imo. For instance, I've had dogs my whole life. They're pretty deep creatures with emotions, intelligence, and personalities all their own. If you tell me that you ate what I have a personal connection to, what I consider my family - It's hard not to look at you in disgust. Similar to the disgust that people feel when they hear someone ate human flesh. The case with horses is similar. Cows, chickens, turkeys, pigs, and fish on the other hand are not similar at all. They often have short memories, and live pretty simple lives. Thus, it's a bit easier to look at them as purposes for lunch. I'd be curious if Hindus feel relative disgust over seeing folks eat cow, I think that might bolster this theory a bit. That said, although I feel disgust over that stuff I don't really say anything. If offered, I'd probably smirk and say, "That's not for me". Other cultures are allowed to, in my mind, enjoy things that might disgust me and vice versa. Edit: I'm also curious that if one day when all meat is lab grown if we'd ever feel those feelings of disgust. If the loss of what we view as potential personal connection is removed, it's entirely possible we wouldn't feel disgust at all.

foobiekr 4y ago
Cows have much larger brains than dogs and are quite intelligent, and so are pigs. The "dogs are special" argument is a familiarity thing or perhaps a statement that dogs evolved to more effectively manipulate human emotions.
- kodah 4y ago
  As I said, it probably has to do more with our aggregate personal connection to animals in a given culture, because that will influence how we perceive their intelligence. If you've read the studies I did, they're not very good. For instance, the test that asserted a pig is smarter than a dog was where they were tasked with moving a joystick designed for a monkey that controlled a cursor that they wanted moved into a blue region on a screen. I'll let you make your own judgements about how sound the testing with respect to the assertion is. My dog certainly has eyes that can be tuned to manipulate me, but she also has a sizeable vocabulary, a lot of tonal intuition, and this little heat seeker in her nose that quite literally syncs her heart rate with mine. There's a good amount of theory that says this adds up to empathy.
- Turing_Machine 4y ago
  Cows may have larger brains, but they also have much bigger bodies. They aren't anywhere near as intelligent as dogs. Now, with pigs, you have a point. They're indeed very smart. I justify eating pigs by reasoning that pigs will happily eat humans if they get a chance (a few pig farmers lose their lives that way every year, plus there's the occasional serial killer...). Turnabout is fair play.
rapnie 4y ago
> Animals that are both higher intelligence in our perception and closer to us day to day will fall into the category of disgust, imo. Think in general this holds to animals seen as pets. Like in the West with adorable little guinea pigs, which in the Andes Mountain regions are a food source. And it makes sense too if you live high in the mountains that get snowed in in the winter, to have a bunch of them living in your home.

by kodah 4y ago

foobiekr 4y ago

Cows have much larger brains than dogs and are quite intelligent, and so are pigs. The "dogs are special" argument is a familiarity thing or perhaps a statement that dogs evolved to more effectively manipulate human emotions.

kodah 4y ago
As I said, it probably has to do more with our aggregate personal connection to animals in a given culture, because that will influence how we perceive their intelligence. If you've read the studies I did, they're not very good. For instance, the test that asserted a pig is smarter than a dog was where they were tasked with moving a joystick designed for a monkey that controlled a cursor that they wanted moved into a blue region on a screen. I'll let you make your own judgements about how sound the testing with respect to the assertion is. My dog certainly has eyes that can be tuned to manipulate me, but she also has a sizeable vocabulary, a lot of tonal intuition, and this little heat seeker in her nose that quite literally syncs her heart rate with mine. There's a good amount of theory that says this adds up to empathy.
Turing_Machine 4y ago
Cows may have larger brains, but they also have much bigger bodies. They aren't anywhere near as intelligent as dogs. Now, with pigs, you have a point. They're indeed very smart. I justify eating pigs by reasoning that pigs will happily eat humans if they get a chance (a few pig farmers lose their lives that way every year, plus there's the occasional serial killer...). Turnabout is fair play.

rapnie 4y ago

> Animals that are both higher intelligence in our perception and closer to us day to day will fall into the category of disgust, imo. Think in general this holds to animals seen as pets. Like in the West with adorable little guinea pigs, which in the Andes Mountain regions are a food source. And it makes sense too if you live high in the mountains that get snowed in in the winter, to have a bunch of them living in your home.