Pyramid #3/52: Low-Tech II - Page 7

Agemegos · 02-23-2013, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

But would you continue to hunt and eat people?

I wouldn't stop.

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It's more an issue of degree of elevation.

That's where you go wrong. It is actually a matter of being able to discriminate between individuals. I can tell my girlfriend from a burglar, so to speak.

Flyndaran · 02-23-2013, 06:32 PM

[QUOTE=Brett;1529645][QUOTE=Flyndaran;1529641]But would you continue to hunt and eat people?

Quote:

I wouldn't stop.

That's where you go wrong. It is actually a matter of being able to discriminate between individuals. I can tell my girlfriend from a burglar, so to speak.

Maybe it's an issue of lowest level of value given to a stranger of X species. I think most people if in theory if not in practice place a lower limit on human value, but don't on other species.

But sorry for the thread-jack.

Agemegos · 02-23-2013, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I think most people […] in theory if not in practice place a lower limit on human value

Perhaps, but it may be negative. When you are a soldier in battle, or an armed policeman interrupting a heinous crime, there are people whom it is good to kill.

Flyndaran · 02-23-2013, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brett

Perhaps, but it may be negative. When you are a soldier in battle, or an armed policeman interrupting a heinous crime, there are people whom it is good to kill.

Yes, but most people, I think, don't handle it perfectly even when it's without a doubt the necessary thing to do. At least not as well as one would when killing a wild animal. Empathy and necessity don't always play well together.

malloyd · 02-23-2013, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

That depends on what pet means to you. I can't understand how one individual can be elevated to family member without also elevating others of its kind as well.

It's like die hard racists that like and consider one individual ok and deserving of respect.
Obviously, I'm not comparing animal eaters to racists in any other way, but it's the only analogy I can think of right now.

On the flipside, I know people who are deeply emotionally attached to their rosebushes, or their lucky dice. Making a special effort to protect those doesn't elevate all other roses or bits of plastic.

DanHoward · 02-23-2013, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

That depends on what pet means to you. I can't understand how one individual can be elevated to family member without also elevating others of its kind as well.

The pet means nothing to me. It means something to its owner. Killing it would cause distress to that person and I have no desire for that. However I don't have a problem culling feral cats and dogs. It seems a waste to bury the carcasses if their meat is palatable.

Flyndaran · 02-23-2013, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanHoward

The pet means nothing to me. It means something to its owner. Killing it would cause distress to that person and I have no desire for that. However I don't have a problem culling feral cats and dogs. It seems a waste to bury the carcasses if their meat is palatable.

To me that's very creepy. To me a pet is merely a name given to establish relationship not inherent value.
It's just weird all the things that seem to matter to you normies, so I'm always dumbfounded when faced with things that don't matter to you.

Flyndaran · 02-23-2013, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malloyd

On the flipside, I know people who are deeply emotionally attached to their rosebushes, or their lucky dice. Making a special effort to protect those doesn't elevate all other roses or bits of plastic.

Caring about specific inanimate objects strikes a very distasteful chord in me as some kind of idolatry or animistic religious belief.

Agemegos · 02-23-2013, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

To me that's very creepy. To me a pet is merely a name given to establish relationship not inherent value.
It's just weird all the things that seem to matter to you normies, so I'm always dumbfounded when faced with things that don't matter to you.

"Pet" is a word in just the same way that "friend" is, or "wife".

Which is not to say that I equate wives with pets, but that relationships like friendship and love are no less real for that we have concrete nouns for the objects of those relationships.

Quote:

Caring about specific inanimate objects strikes a very distasteful chord in me as some kind of idolatry or animistic religious belief.

Do you ever get tired of telling us all that you think we're creepy and distasteful? I don't say such things about you.

Flyndaran · 02-23-2013, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brett

...
Do you ever get tired of telling us all that you think we're creepy and distasteful? I don't say such things about you.

I'm not going to lie by omission when suddenly faced with people I thought were full of empathy admit to not being so.
I didn't realize that I'd said that before. I apologize for my poor memory and repeating myself then.