Social media isn’t connecting a billion super special super smart creatures together into a network, but connecting a billion completely biologically unremarkable animals together into a network. If you misunderstand who we are, you’ll continually be surprised at the irrational herd-like destruction we’re capable of.
Could not agree with it more. The human-centric view is just as misguided as the earth-centric view.
What makes both erroneous views so damaging too is that the "special" entity at the centre of that view (earth, humans) is almost always defined as being "superior" to the related objects that aren't at the centre (other celestial bodies, other animals). In Galileo's time we were stuck here on Earth so we couldn't take that viewpoint to its logical conclusion of shamelessly exploiting and damaging other worlds, but for the human-centric view we have been able to and have exploited and damaged other animals because they were viewed as "inferior". Even in the most recent forms of this view (the religious/evangelist type of veganism) other animals are seen as inferior and we as superior because we can recognize that eating other animals is somehow "primitive". Could we eat less meat? Sure. That would be healthy. Should we eat no meat? That should definitely be a personal/lifestyle choice. Should we treat other animals well? Absolutely.
I have found that persons who didn't have to care for other animals or interact with them from they were children are often (but not always!) more likely to hold this "human superior" view. We need to expose more of our children to the wonders that are other creatures.
Very well put. I've had this frustration for years at years at modern people casually assuming ourselves to be so smart - whenever we ourselves have contributed very little to the ancient layers of culture which allow us to see and shape the world the way we do.
Fantastic post!
Could not agree with it more. The human-centric view is just as misguided as the earth-centric view.
What makes both erroneous views so damaging too is that the "special" entity at the centre of that view (earth, humans) is almost always defined as being "superior" to the related objects that aren't at the centre (other celestial bodies, other animals). In Galileo's time we were stuck here on Earth so we couldn't take that viewpoint to its logical conclusion of shamelessly exploiting and damaging other worlds, but for the human-centric view we have been able to and have exploited and damaged other animals because they were viewed as "inferior". Even in the most recent forms of this view (the religious/evangelist type of veganism) other animals are seen as inferior and we as superior because we can recognize that eating other animals is somehow "primitive". Could we eat less meat? Sure. That would be healthy. Should we eat no meat? That should definitely be a personal/lifestyle choice. Should we treat other animals well? Absolutely.
I have found that persons who didn't have to care for other animals or interact with them from they were children are often (but not always!) more likely to hold this "human superior" view. We need to expose more of our children to the wonders that are other creatures.
"I don’t believe there’s ANYTHING biologically special about us humans." 100%!
Very well put. I've had this frustration for years at years at modern people casually assuming ourselves to be so smart - whenever we ourselves have contributed very little to the ancient layers of culture which allow us to see and shape the world the way we do.