RE: Maximizing Moral Virtue
June 25, 2022 at 7:10 pm
(This post was last modified: June 25, 2022 at 7:12 pm by bennyboy.)
"Information asymmetry" is a problem for vegetarians, for sure. As of right now, I'm not even sure that being vegeterian even DOES reduce animal suffering or deaths.
First of all, if you've ever been in a small farm, there are bugs crawling on everything-- probably like a billion per acre or something, depending on whether you're willing to pull out bifocals, a magnifying glass or a microscope. If their lives matter, we're instantly hooped, because over the population, that's more living things killed in vegetable food production each year than cows that have ever existed.
But even if you just take mammals and birds as mattering because "squeee," I'd like to see a count on how many mice, voles, or ground-nesting birds get mulched by industrial machinery per large livestock animal saved. It might be better just to buy a few acres of grazing land and one for vegetables and straight-up murder a cow per year and grow your own food in your family's poop. (still gonna be a lot of bugs incidentally killed, though, depending on the types of foods you grow)
That's why while I'm vegetarian, and I think it's generally more moral to BE vegetarian, I'm not as convinced as your average 17 year-old activist probably is. In fact, I'd say the morality of vegetarian only really works IF you take "squeee" as one of the bases of morality, and IF you find insects non-squeee-worthy. If you're the mosquito-non-slapping type, suicide might be the most efficient path toward reducing suffering and death in the world.
First of all, if you've ever been in a small farm, there are bugs crawling on everything-- probably like a billion per acre or something, depending on whether you're willing to pull out bifocals, a magnifying glass or a microscope. If their lives matter, we're instantly hooped, because over the population, that's more living things killed in vegetable food production each year than cows that have ever existed.
But even if you just take mammals and birds as mattering because "squeee," I'd like to see a count on how many mice, voles, or ground-nesting birds get mulched by industrial machinery per large livestock animal saved. It might be better just to buy a few acres of grazing land and one for vegetables and straight-up murder a cow per year and grow your own food in your family's poop. (still gonna be a lot of bugs incidentally killed, though, depending on the types of foods you grow)
That's why while I'm vegetarian, and I think it's generally more moral to BE vegetarian, I'm not as convinced as your average 17 year-old activist probably is. In fact, I'd say the morality of vegetarian only really works IF you take "squeee" as one of the bases of morality, and IF you find insects non-squeee-worthy. If you're the mosquito-non-slapping type, suicide might be the most efficient path toward reducing suffering and death in the world.
