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Possibly pointless philosophical question

Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
Suppose that some day in the future, scientist discovered that plants, utilising some previously-not-understood mechanism, do have some kind of intelligence. They can somehow make basic thought, and they feel great pain when they're cut, have a torturous slow death when they're uprooted etc.

If that was someday proven true, would the people who in the present are vegetarians not because they think humans aren't made to consume meat but because they're opposed to how animals are being mistreated stop eating completely, since plants are being mistreated as well?

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No. For the same reason that if they were starving and meat was the only option, they would eat meat. Or that they would use drugs tested on animals if they would die if they don't. It's about unnecessary suffering, not suffering in general.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    "I'm a class 5 vegan. I don't eat anything that casts a shadow..."
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i think that plants do not 'feel' because they are not an absolutely single entity as humans and other animals are, case in point, you can take clippings of some plants, and the clippings can become a new plant in themselves; but you can't cut off a human arm and expect it become a full human in the right circumstances.

    i think that makes sense..
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    On a vaguely related point didn't some scientists recently declare that mushrooms may actually be closer to what we understand as animal rather than plant?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think they're genetically closer to animals than plants. They're only considered closer to plants because they look like them. But there are plenty of things in the sea that are definitely animals that look very plant-like.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think they're genetically closer to animals than plants.

    According to QI we share more DNA with daffodils than monkeys :)
  • Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    yeahwalk wrote: »
    i think that plants do not 'feel' because they are not an absolutely single entity as humans and other animals are, case in point, you can take clippings of some plants, and the clippings can become a new plant in themselves; but you can't cut off a human arm and expect it become a full human in the right circumstances.

    i think that makes sense..
    This isn't meant like an attack or anything, just making that clear (my tone does get misunderstood sometimes):

    You remind me of someone I once asked what he'd do if aliens landed in the middle of the schoolyard one day. His response? "Aliens won't land because they don't exist".

    My point is, yes, as far as we know plants don't feel. But the question was under the supposition that somehow they did.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i would say there is a difference between feeling pleasure and pain, and growing towards the sunlight and the other things that plants do to maximise their chances of survival. so what i meant really was that plants probably do biologically comphrend that something bad is happening to them, but not on the real time and central nervous system / brain level that animals and humans do. i sort of think that plants are more beholden to follow a very strict path and cannot make decisions for themselves about their survival as animals and humans do. of course, i'm really not a scientific person, and the idea that plants have complex thoughts and feelings is a bit weird to me.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jim V wrote: »
    On a vaguely related point didn't some scientists recently declare that mushrooms may actually be closer to what we understand as animal rather than plant?

    It's possible theres a pile of bull shit in there.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    mushrooms are fungi tho which is bordline between plant and bacteria/simple animal.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'd suggest that anything without a central nervous system isn't going to feel pain, so you can keep eating potatos guilt free.
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