TheCDs wrote:I really don't care. Test all you want, animals aren't kind to each other in the wild, and getting needles shoved in you is probably less painful then having something else rip your body in half (I haven't been ripped in half but the needles aren't that bad). I mean I don't believe that they have the higher brain functions that we have to feel real emotions. I believe it is all instinct, they don't love, they don't feel happy after they eat, they just fulfill a need and move onto the next one. I have yet to see any research or data that suggests otherwise.
Not sure what these higher brain functions are that you're talking about, but emotions seem to have developed in the mammalian brain, which means that all mammals experience some range of emotion. If you remove the florid human view of emotions as complex states of mind, all they are is the mind's reaction to a set of circumstances.
The question that is often brought up is whether or not animals feel pain. That's retarded. If they react to pain, they feel it. Pain is a signal in the brain. Whether or not it feels the way it does to humans is irrelevant. People often talk about dogs only showing affection to their owners because they see them as part of their pack, as though that means that it's not really love because it's an automatic response. Well I don't know if you've noticed, but humans tend to automatically love their families too. I guess that means we're not capable of real love either, because we just want to protect our shared genes.
I disagree with this whole notion of humans as being somehow a higher being, that somehow, because we smile when we see a rainbow, that means we're necessarily worthy of a higher set of ethics. Fuck that.
Imagine an alien species flies to the Earth. Physically they're stronger. Mentally they're stronger. Emotionally, they're capable of experiencing feelings beyond human comprehension. To them, pain isn't like we would understand as a response to an injury, it actually physically degrades the parts of their brains responsible for their memories and personalities. So that means they should totally test their drugs on humans right? After all, we're not capable of their level of pain therefore should it not be okay for them to inflict it on us instead of on themselves?
I don't want products tested on animals, I want products tested on humans, with consent. I understand that science and medicine have progressed much faster because of animal testing, and I know that by testing a small sample of animals you can save many more humans. I'm questioning the assumed notion of human ethics, more than anything else. If you are willingly inflicting pain on something, the reason had better be good. The animals don't have the choice, we do, and the choice shouldn't be as easy as "it's easier this way."
Edited by user 02 February 2010 11:13:40(UTC)
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