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Eating people is bad because it creates an environment where you might get eaten yourself.
by maratd 14y ago
Eating people is bad because it creates an environment where you might get eaten yourself.
- eurleif 14y agoSo 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 agoIt's ok to eat people, but you won't want to once you've seen what they eat and how they live.
- vidarh 14y agoNo. 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 agoIf 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 agoI think the parent was explaining why "don't eat humans" exists as a social faux pas.
- StavrosK 14y agoNo. 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 agoBut 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 agoThe 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 agoOh, 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?
- Dylan16807 14y agoIt's pretty easy to do some basic tests for intelligence in social animals. The test concept is quite sophisticated, so you can definitely rule out species. Humans raise a lot of dumb animals. Just don't ask me to eat dolphin.