"squeamishness and shallow anthropomorphism have led far too many people to think of animals as having human-like emotions and deserving to be protected from supposed "exploitation" by humans. This attitude represents something close to a betrayal of humanity, because it refuses to give proper recognition to the uniqueness of human consciousness.
I can't even remember where I found this comment, but you get the idea. This I will agree with.
I would like to point out that our own consciousness as humans prevents us from understanding how unique the consciousness is of other species. Our god-like superiority is assumed, without thought for the fact that they can forecast weather. We spend billions of dollars, and still don't get rain. We need a GPS. They know where they're going. We cannot believe they may be "better" than us, in ways we're still trying to figure out, because they aren't human. I won't label that speciesism. I label that stubborn. Life isn't a competition to see who ends up first. Bugs are going to do that. Have we figured them out yet? Heck, no. How does a bee fly? Anybody?
Have we figured out how to stop on a dime, with the force of 10 G's? No. Can we dive into the ocean depths, or survive for thousands of years as a spore? We are outnumbered, 10 to 1, by bacterial cells, in our own bodies. We finally figured that out, and now we're starting to worry about the willy-nillyness of antibiotics and diseases that we've inadvertently created by cramming a whole shit-ton of critters in one spot. jmo.
We need to start looking at things differently, perhaps with more empathy, perhaps not. I will never look at an animal as if it were a machine. I haven't seen any science yet that can make a machine from flesh.
Maybe I'm missing something.
I just wish I could figure out what it was.
