5 ms·

So it's ok for the immune population mentioned in that article to eat people?

• maratd 14y ago
  Eating people is bad because it creates an environment where you might get eaten yourself.
  • eurleif 14y ago
    So it's ok to eat people as long as you only eat people who belong to a group which is different from you in some way?
    • stephencanon 14y ago
      It's ok to eat people, but you won't want to once you've seen what they eat and how they live.
    • vidarh 14y ago
      No. If you eat people that are different, then other groups of people might want to eat you because you are different, so an environment where eating any people is ok creates an environment where you might be eaten yourself. The argument maratd gives thus is a justification for eating animals that are not smart enough to to look at our behaviour and decide whether or not we're fair based on whether or not we also eat animals. But it explicitly rules out cannibalism (or eating intelligent aliens).
      • eurleif 14y ago
        If I find a homeless person in an alleyway, ask him about his friends and family, and he tells me that no one knows or cares that he's alive, it's ok to eat him, as long as I don't tell anyone about it?
        • pyre 14y ago
          I think the parent was explaining why "don't eat humans" exists as a social faux pas.
        • StavrosK 14y ago
          No. What the gp is saying is basically the categorical imperative. "It is bad to eat people because I don't want to live in a world where I could be eaten (me also being people)". He's not saying it's okay as long as you don't get eaten he's saying "as a human, I do not want to get eaten. Therefore, I do not want to inflict this on other humans either".
          • eurleif 14y ago
            But why is "human" the privileged class? We could use a subclass, like "human with an IQ above 100", or a superclass, like "animal". You're just restating where he or she is drawing the line, not explaining why that's the right place to draw it.
            • Dylan16807 14y ago
              The privileged class is not human. The logic was handed to you, you just ignored it. "smart enough to to look at our behaviour and decide whether or not we're fair based on whether or not we also eat animals" Yes of course an IQ number is a ridiculous way to draw a line; moving on. 'Animal' is a logical measure but 1. who cares about sea sponges and 2. it's not universal, what if aliens show up. Drawing the line at creatures that are intelligent enough to draw this same line is a very clean and clever solution to the problem. Anything with minimal critical thinking skills is saved. Any dumb brute is fair game.
              • jessedhillon 14y ago
                Oh, I found a problem in your clean solution: nobody knows how to detect, in non-humans, the presence or absence of a mind sufficiently capable to pass your test. Or have you been interviewing all the animals you eat?
• Swizec 14y ago
  Well we generally share susceptance to the same diseases and parasites as humans, so it's a bad idea to be eating them. However, prepared correctly with enough heat, possibly also frozen beforehand (that's what works on pork), I hear humans can actually be quite tasty. It's seen as a bit of a social faux pas in our society though, so you might want to find a different society first if you'd like to enjoy tasty humans.
  • eurleif 14y ago
    >It's seen as a bit of a social faux pas in our society though, so you might want to find a different society first if you'd like to enjoy tasty humans. Are you honestly this much of a relativist?
    • StavrosK 14y ago
      I don't see a problem with eating humans, if you want to and they/their families are okay with it. Killing humans is what is unethical.
      • eurleif 14y ago
        Right, killing is what I was talking about. This thread started with someone mentioning the morality of "eating chickens", and I just copied that phrasing.
    • Swizec 14y ago
      Well I can't really tell, I've grown up knowing that eating humans is bad. It's just the way it's always been. I've also grown up knowing that cats and dogs are not for eating. And yet, even just a hundred kilometers away, I hear Italians eat plenty of cats and even consider it normal in some areas.
    • jessedhillon 14y ago
      You're witnessing firsthand the stupidity people concoct when they are operating under cognitive dissonance.