This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 3:15 pmand is filed under * Must Reads, Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Oh my — how much do I love this?! I clicked on the link in Google Reader immediately to ask the same question as Lindsey: did you create this yourself?
Hey thank you! I did create it myself after some brainstorming with @LeafyV from twitter.
Had a moment of inspiration one day and this dawned to me – happens once in a blue moon. :-D
With insects the 2 circles move further apart with less things shared. They still feel some level of pain and that should therefore be taken into account.
Parasites can often be dealt with without the need to kill them.
I don’t think there is much evidence to support that insects feel pain. Consider that a spider with a crushed leg will continue to walk on it with the same amount of force, or that an aphid missing half its abdomen will continue to graze, or that a praying mantis will continue to have sex while his mate starts munching on his head. Sure insects may try to escape some aversive stimuli, but so will bacteria, and I’m sure you cannot believe that bacteria feel pain, as they are only a single cell. What about the radially symmetric animals, like sponges and urchins? Do they feel pain? Euglenas? Paramecia? Where is that line again?
As for parasites, the only ones that I can think of that you could potentially remove alive would be a tick. The others I thought up were Heartworms, tapeworms, roundworms, fleas, and of course, malaria. Now, say we did find some humane way of removing these guys. What do we do with them? Parasites are defined as organisms that need a host to survive. So, OK, you just found a good surgical procedure to take a tapeworm out of your pet dog. Now that it’s out, if we go by your logic that invertebrates can feel pain and suffer, the worm is suffering terribly, is terrified, and is dying. I don’t see how forcefully removing a parasite from its home and food source is preferable, according to what I got the impression you are implying. Of course, I may have caught the wrong drift from you, and I look forward to your response. :)
I think you have a good point and I’ll admit my ignorance about their ability to feel pain. I just know that some studies show they are sentient and I would imagine they do have some level of sentience.
Anyway, if we can at least respect the animals who we are sure feel pain then we can worry about insects next.
This is a grave mistake to confuse man with animal. By doing this, you are lowering the status of man and that is the greatest mistake. I wish it were only stupidity that were causing you to feel this way but I see it all over now. This graphic you post is a crime against humans and I do truly mean this.
December 18th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
That is amazing!! Did you make that?
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December 18th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Oh my — how much do I love this?! I clicked on the link in Google Reader immediately to ask the same question as Lindsey: did you create this yourself?
[Reply]
December 18th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Hey thank you! I did create it myself after some brainstorming with @LeafyV from twitter.
Had a moment of inspiration one day and this dawned to me – happens once in a blue moon. :-D
[Reply]
January 14th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
I also really like this. You did a wonderful job! Could I add it to http://www.animalsuffering.com/resources/images/ ?
Great stuff!!!
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January 21st, 2010 at 3:01 am
This is awesome. The vegan movement needs originality like yours to keep it fresh.
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January 30th, 2010 at 1:38 am
Does this include insects? What about parasites? If not, where is the line?
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Edward Reply:
January 30th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
With insects the 2 circles move further apart with less things shared. They still feel some level of pain and that should therefore be taken into account.
Parasites can often be dealt with without the need to kill them.
[Reply]
Tessa Reply:
February 14th, 2010 at 3:12 am
I don’t think there is much evidence to support that insects feel pain. Consider that a spider with a crushed leg will continue to walk on it with the same amount of force, or that an aphid missing half its abdomen will continue to graze, or that a praying mantis will continue to have sex while his mate starts munching on his head. Sure insects may try to escape some aversive stimuli, but so will bacteria, and I’m sure you cannot believe that bacteria feel pain, as they are only a single cell. What about the radially symmetric animals, like sponges and urchins? Do they feel pain? Euglenas? Paramecia? Where is that line again?
As for parasites, the only ones that I can think of that you could potentially remove alive would be a tick. The others I thought up were Heartworms, tapeworms, roundworms, fleas, and of course, malaria. Now, say we did find some humane way of removing these guys. What do we do with them? Parasites are defined as organisms that need a host to survive. So, OK, you just found a good surgical procedure to take a tapeworm out of your pet dog. Now that it’s out, if we go by your logic that invertebrates can feel pain and suffer, the worm is suffering terribly, is terrified, and is dying. I don’t see how forcefully removing a parasite from its home and food source is preferable, according to what I got the impression you are implying. Of course, I may have caught the wrong drift from you, and I look forward to your response. :)
[Reply]
Edward Reply:
February 14th, 2010 at 3:28 am
I think you have a good point and I’ll admit my ignorance about their ability to feel pain. I just know that some studies show they are sentient and I would imagine they do have some level of sentience.
Anyway, if we can at least respect the animals who we are sure feel pain then we can worry about insects next.
March 2nd, 2010 at 7:35 pm
NO NO NO NO NO NO.
This is a grave mistake to confuse man with animal. By doing this, you are lowering the status of man and that is the greatest mistake. I wish it were only stupidity that were causing you to feel this way but I see it all over now. This graphic you post is a crime against humans and I do truly mean this.
[Reply]