https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-03/fake-meat-industry-eyes-crickets-beetles-mealworms-maggots-for-burgers

  • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    It seems silly, I know, my problem with bug farming is a little hard for me to describe but I'll try.

    I think that that processing trillions of creatures that move, flail, have missing limbs from being roughly treated etc I mean these are being poured into a bucket ffs even if they probably aren't sentient is still weird. They're still animals and we see them move, make sounds, limp when hurt, and part of me wonders if it's healthy for us to see animals this way from our actions, for our benefit.

    I'm not against swatting a fly in your house, it's the mass production of millions of tiny bodies being poured into a container to be used like objects that triggers something in my brain that says "This is fucked up." Maybe I'm being irrational, idk. I'm probably sounding like a crazy person.

    I have this weird thing in my brain that dislikes being disrespectful to life, if that makes sense.

    As for fish, they feel pain and are definitely capable of thought (goldfish can solve puzzles) so that's a no-brainer for me.

    • AvgMarighellaEnjoyer [he/him,any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      idk man, even before i went vegan i would feel really bad if i saw an insect with a missing limb or something like that. it's just being needlessly cruel i guess.

      • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        Yeah, I don't think it's good to inflict unnecessary cruelty even if it's towards something that we're unsure is sentient.

        I don't want to normalise cruelty is probably what my thoughts come down to.

        I guess it's for the same reason someone quickly squashing a bug isn't disturbing, but someone pulling its legs off one by one for fun is disgusting.

      • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Let's say you're watching a spider in its web in the corner of your window, and a fly gets stuck in the web. The spider starts to clamber over to wrap up the fly, while the fly is struggling in vain with all its might to escape.

        Do you let the spider have it, and let the fly have a slow death as it is paralyzed and digested alive, or do you save the fly and potentially cause the spider to have a slow death by starvation?

    • save_vs_death [they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I think that this reply is perfectly cogent, and hits the nail on the head in a way that pretzeling ourselves into debating the ethics of nerve cells and pheromones and what have you doesn't. If plants would squiggle and move around when cut or would avoid blades or being picked or w/e nobody would care if it's technically a vegetative response (like heliotropism). It looks like you're doing something obviously wrong to another living thing.

    • MemesAreTheory [he/him, any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Thanks for responding and helping me better understand your thought process and engage my own.