RE: Vegans & meat grown in a lab
October 22, 2018 at 1:59 pm
(This post was last modified: October 22, 2018 at 2:02 pm by vulcanlogician.)
(October 22, 2018 at 1:12 pm)wyzas Wrote: Insects have a short life span, could die naturally and supply protein. Other than being insects, would that be an option for ethical vegans? I guessing that the insects would be farmed so that violates the "live freely" constraint.
It's an interesting thing to ponder. "Do insects feel pain?"
There is no way to know with certainty, but entomologists suspect that they might not. How did they come to this conclusion? Well, one way of gauging pain and suffering is to observe stimulus response. They conducted experiments where insects' legs were injured to see if the insect stopped using that particular appendage. With animals, when a particular leg is injured, the animal will stop using that particular appendage because using it results in pain. No such behavior was observed in insects.
Of course, there is no way we can conclude anything 100%. Maybe the insects are suffering tremendously but lack the necessary physiology to stop using the affected leg. But if insects do not feel pain or experience suffering, it would (in the view of some) be ethically permissible to harvest and eat them.
