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Originally Posted by Lady Blue
Actually, we of the genus homo, evolved to be the dominant and surviving species of hominids because of our brain power, and that, if I understand evolutionary science correctly, was a direct result of the protein gotten from meat in our diets, as opposed to the exclusive gathering lifestyle of the other hominids that we replaced.
As a species we are omnivores because our predecessors ate pretty much anything that didn't eat them first in order to survive. And survive they did, and flourished, and became the most dominant species on earth mainly because of (originally) what they ate. Because of that evolution our digestive systems can process pretty much any foodstuffs we choose, unlike many other animals who are specialists (like the Panda) and would become extinct if that one food source disappeared because they couldn't adapt.
Because of all this, we are now free to choose what foods we care to eat, what we like and don't like, for whatever reason we might have for deciding that particular way. Our history of being murderers of animals brought us to where we are, good or bad.
I could be wrong about all that, but that's how I learned it.
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Yes, we did kill animals in the past - when we had to. When it was kill or be killed. But those were different times. We also lived in caves because we didn't know how to build houses. But we found a better way. We evolved. And we continue to do so.
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Originally Posted by Lady Blue
On that same thought, wouldn't the same be true of the bear and the salmon? Would it not be the responsibility of the bear to take care of the salmon, instead of eating him, since the bear is higher on the food chain? Or does that food chain reasoning apply only to people?
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The bear is not human. It has no higher conciousness. It can't reason. That is what separates us from the animals, and why we have such responsibility for them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Blue
Also, how do we know for sure that a carrot does not feel? It grows, therefore it is alive. But just because it doesn't have the same kind of brain and nervous system that we are familiar with, doesn't mean it doesn't feel and suffer. We used to think nothiing could live without sunlight too. We were wrong. We used to think the world was flat. We were wrong.
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It does not have the same
kind of brain and nervous system, because it has
no brain or nervous system. Our science is much different than it was when we thought the world was flat. There is very little that is unknown to us now. I am quite confident that if a carrot had a brain, we would know about it.