RE: Farm animals
March 13, 2018 at 7:24 am
(This post was last modified: March 13, 2018 at 7:41 am by The Grand Nudger.)
The welfare argument that some people think is so compelling it should turn us all into vegans wouldn't be enough to keep aliens from farming us. No surprise there. It's a weak objection before we cast people as cattle.
If animal welfare were the reason not to farm animals and animals were uniformly kept in a deplorable state than we would have a reason not to farm them. Most people are willing to at least consider this as one of the reasons or circumstances that would provide a valid objection - and we've written animal welfare into our laws. Some, however..are not comfortable with the converse implication of the statement. That..if animals are -not- kept in deplorable conditions..or are, in point of fact, qualitatively elevated...then we do not have a good reason, on basis of welfare, not to farm them.
Chances are, people have other reasons™ for objecting to livestock. The reason above is an easy rationalization that has the added bonus of sometimes being true....but few people would extend it's consequences to their logical limits and incluide ourselves in the list of domestic candidate species. Though..I suppose..we could assert that, like cape buffalo, human beings aren't particularly disposed to domestication.
Fun with the idea. If there were an alien species that could provide for us in ways that we couldn't, it might also stand to reason that they could do so in a minimally intrusive way that left us completely unaware of our station in life. We can do as much for cattle...but I suspect there would be alot more work involved in achieving the same for us. We'd have to be awfully valuable, to warrant such generous conditions. Personally, I;d expect extermination in the face of such a species. We put livestock on comparatively meager land. We reserve the best plots for more profitable or productive use. The earth would have to qualify as one of the "best plots" in the solar system..at least. If they were good at their jobs, they'd tin can us. Or, maybe an alien species that could get here and farm us wouldn't waste their time. They'd do what we do. Clearcut the vegetation. Exterminate the native wildlife. Install paddocks for their own domesticates. Establish non native and intrusive pasture from nutrient rich cultivars. Any use they'd have for us would be as a waste byproduct of pest removal, but they might not go out of their way if we aren't in their pantry like mice..so to speak.
If animal welfare were the reason not to farm animals and animals were uniformly kept in a deplorable state than we would have a reason not to farm them. Most people are willing to at least consider this as one of the reasons or circumstances that would provide a valid objection - and we've written animal welfare into our laws. Some, however..are not comfortable with the converse implication of the statement. That..if animals are -not- kept in deplorable conditions..or are, in point of fact, qualitatively elevated...then we do not have a good reason, on basis of welfare, not to farm them.
Chances are, people have other reasons™ for objecting to livestock. The reason above is an easy rationalization that has the added bonus of sometimes being true....but few people would extend it's consequences to their logical limits and incluide ourselves in the list of domestic candidate species. Though..I suppose..we could assert that, like cape buffalo, human beings aren't particularly disposed to domestication.
Fun with the idea. If there were an alien species that could provide for us in ways that we couldn't, it might also stand to reason that they could do so in a minimally intrusive way that left us completely unaware of our station in life. We can do as much for cattle...but I suspect there would be alot more work involved in achieving the same for us. We'd have to be awfully valuable, to warrant such generous conditions. Personally, I;d expect extermination in the face of such a species. We put livestock on comparatively meager land. We reserve the best plots for more profitable or productive use. The earth would have to qualify as one of the "best plots" in the solar system..at least. If they were good at their jobs, they'd tin can us. Or, maybe an alien species that could get here and farm us wouldn't waste their time. They'd do what we do. Clearcut the vegetation. Exterminate the native wildlife. Install paddocks for their own domesticates. Establish non native and intrusive pasture from nutrient rich cultivars. Any use they'd have for us would be as a waste byproduct of pest removal, but they might not go out of their way if we aren't in their pantry like mice..so to speak.
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