Is human life much more valuable than other animals` life?

[Profanz]

I love my dog but if it was between my dog and a human life somewhere my dog would need to go.

I have had to take my pets to be put down. One of the hardest things I ever had to do. But I've also seen some of my family members die in an IC unit or hospice. Some of them not very old at all. Its all very hard. But a human life ending, especially a young one, is the hardest of all to watch.

Does that mean they were more valuable? To me they were.

 

[Aepervius]

This species thing is conventional

Yeah sure. Convention. And you know what ? You are right. I will go for conventional female of my species, and you can ignore the convention. I would recommend you first you go to sweden or danemark, because your view on "convention" might put you in hot water in other countries.

 

[RenaissanceBiker]

If a technologically superior race of giant insect-like beings from another solar system laid waste to most of Earth, and left it with only you, a steer, and some guy you don't know, the more important one for YOU would be the steer because it would be your food source.

They would both be my food source.

It is assumed. But, cannibalism always comes second.

Actually, I think the man would come first. The steer can eat grass and get fat while the man cannot. I also wouldn't share the steer with him knowing that I'm just going to kill and eat him later. I think that if I am aware of the absolutes in your scenario, I kill him as soon as I meet him.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Yeah sure. Convention. And you know what ? You are right. I will go for conventional female of my species, and you can ignore the convention. I would recommend you first you go to sweden or danemark, because your view on "convention" might put you in hot water in other countries.

 

[John Mekki]

[..] But a human life ending, especially a young one, is the hardest of all to watch.
[..]

This is why many people simply turn their heads the other side and just do not watch when it is happening
(even if they may be responsible for it)

 

[Cain]

Simply by paying taxes you're doing something. Our governments assist on our behalf. I'm smart enough to know that there's very little practical aid I can offer to anyone in a disaster zone. My best way of assisting is by ensuring part of my taxes go towards maintaining a team of appropriate experts who can be of assistance in such a disaster zone so that my country can send them to help.

Taxes are... compulsory. And when the Taliban fled into the mountains, it spared villages from American bombs.

Are you saying that, because something worse is happening to someone else in the world, it's not appropriate to be concerned when bad things happen in your own life? That's... retarded.

Yes it is, so it's a good thing I'm not saying that. Smith's saying we take it far out of proportion. The person who loses a finger also loses a night's sleep. There's a disaster and he sleeps sound as a baby.

 

[zeggman]

I love my dog but if it was between my dog and a human life somewhere my dog would need to go.

Even if the human was Stalin? Or one of the Kardashians?

 

[deaman]

Wow...

Even if the human was Stalin? Or one of the Kardashians?

...it's the old, "If there were a beautiful butterfly and a huge cockroach side by side, and you had to step on one of them, which would you choose?

I think, (and I may be wrong) most people would gladly crush the roach, because we have been taught to cherish butterflies, and regard roaches as dirty, filthy creatures.

But, I have read (and what I read may be wrong or right, I cannot say with total assurance) that if there were a nuclear disaster, one creature who may be able to survive and adapt is, the cockroach.

What does that mean? I don't know (!), other than that "we" are the ones assigning meaning and value to things. But, our values and meanings appear to be skewed, biased and distorted, according to our experiences and our emotions.

 

[deaman]

So, at times I have to wonder.

Are we just making it all up as we go along?

Is life truly that malable?

Are we just flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants?

 

[Morrigan]

That doesn't even compile unless capacity is boolean.

Not to mention most languages just don't express transitivity.

I LOLed.

Nerd jokes <3

 

[gumboot]

Taxes are... compulsory.

Sure, but it's not compulsory how much you pay or what it gets spent on.

And when the Taliban fled into the mountains, it spared villages from American bombs.

I don't know what this even means.

Yes it is, so it's a good thing I'm not saying that. Smith's saying we take it far out of proportion.

Evidence?

The person who loses a finger also loses a night's sleep. There's a disaster and he sleeps sound as a baby.

Evidence?

 

[Ron_Tomkins]

I love my dog but if it was between my dog and a human life somewhere my dog would need to go.

Man.... for me it wouldn't be that easy. Well, actually, it would but only because my cat is 17 years old and she is gonna die anytime soon. So if I had to choose between her life and a human life, then it would be much easier to make the cat go because she's about to go anyway. But if she still had a lot of time ahead for herself, it would be really hard for me to decide. Then again, we're all talking hypothetically here.

 

[deaman]

Then again, we're all talking hypothetically here.

Pretty much, absolutely, nothing else going on here.

 

[mumblethrax]

Whether there's any mechanism or not (and there probably is)

Go ahead and describe it.

it's easy to find examples of animals working to benefit other animals which are not kin.

I was pretty careful with my choice of words--kinship relations dominate, no mechanism exists to drive species-wide concern. That doesn't mean that we never see altruistic behavior extend beyond the bounds of kin (or species)--accidents do happen.

 

[HotNostril]

To be brutally honest, your life is less valuable to me than my dog's life is.



If either you or my dog were going to be killed, I'd save my dog.

Ditto.

My dog is part of my family. My family comes before some stranger.

 

[Skeptic Tank]

I think almost everything is very detail-specific. Hard and fast generalized rules are hard to come by.

I feel that some human life is much more valuable than animal life. There are other humans who I would value the lives of less than animals. For instance, if I could snap my fingers and every community involved in the whole bush meat thing would just cease to exist? I'd do it with zero hesitation.

Those who kill endangered species for body parts to sell in China? same thing. Gone.

But if you're an educated, productive, kind and enlightened person living in a first world country? I would value your life above just about anything. I'd trade in a million third world barbarians who circumcise girls and put them in cloth sacks for one of you. No hesitation.

I also generally think the entire world would benefit massively from a huge reduction in the number of human beings. Both the remaining people, and the natural world. I think we need a plague, but I'd want it to target people below a certain IQ.

 

[Kahalachan]

But what about the life of one human being against the life of ten dogs?
Against the life of 100 dogs?

If the last lion on earth was going to eat someone, I would kill it and cause the extinction of a species to save a human life.

To me it is extremely morally wrong to even consider putting an animal's life over a human in any situation. I mean you could probably think of some mass murderer vs. a family pet and I'd probably pick the family pet. That's the most extreme circumstance where I would knowingly kill a human to save an animal.

Otherwise, one human > ever single other animal on the planet combined.

Edit: I'll clarify. We're talking just the value of life vs. life. If someone wants expensive furs and to skin animals alive for them, they are putting something superficial over life and the animal wins.

 

[Belz...]

Zombie thread eats your brains !!!

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

I think almost everything is very detail-specific. Hard and fast generalized rules are hard to come by.

I feel that some human life is much more valuable than animal life. There are other humans who I would value the lives of less than animals. For instance, if I could snap my fingers and every community involved in the whole bush meat thing would just cease to exist? I'd do it with zero hesitation.

Those who kill endangered species for body parts to sell in China? same thing. Gone.

But if you're an educated, productive, kind and enlightened person living in a first world country? I would value your life above just about anything. I'd trade in a million third world barbarians who circumcise girls and put them in cloth sacks for one of you. No hesitation.

I also generally think the entire world would benefit massively from a huge reduction in the number of human beings. Both the remaining people, and the natural world. I think we need a plague, but I'd want it to target people below a certain IQ.

If there is anything most people in this thread can agree on, it is that the criteria you listed for humans are morally irrelevant. Is this thought what you would call "enlightened"? This isn't about weighing animal life at all, but your judgment of humans to be beneath you and your fellow "educated, productive, kind and enlightened people living in first world countries". It is morally repugnant.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Zombie thread eats your brains !!!

Zombies--worth more, or less, than animals?