{"id":770094,"date":"2022-09-30T07:30:09","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T11:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=770094"},"modified":"2022-09-30T08:30:50","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T12:30:50","slug":"brian-kateman-optimistic-longtermism-is-terrible-for-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=770094","title":{"rendered":"Brian Kateman: Optimistic ‘longtermism’ is terrible for animals"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Mostly ignored in longtermist circles is our systematic, commercialized cruelty against animals raised as livestock. In the U.S. alone, billions of animals are confined in factory farms and killed for food each year.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

BRIAN KATEMAN:<\/strong> Oxford philosopher William MacAskill\u2019s new book, What We Owe the Future, caused quite a stir this month… MacAskill\u2019s new tome makes the case for a growing flank of thought called \u201clongtermism.\u201d Longtermists argue that our actions today can improve the lives of humans way, way, way down the line \u2014 we\u2019re talking billions, trillions of years \u2014 and that in fact it\u2019s our moral responsibility to do so. In many ways, longtermism is a straightforward, uncontroversially good idea.<\/em><\/p>\n

Humankind has long been concerned with providing for future generations: not just our children or grandchildren, but even those we will never have the chance to meet… Nearly two decades ago, Oxford philosophy professor Nick Bostrom kicked off this wave of longtermism with the concept of \u201castronomical waste.\u201d He argues that even people of the unfathomably distant future deserve our ethical consideration, and that if humans manage to colonize space, there could be many, many more of us than there are now…<\/em><\/p>\n

But MacAskill\u2019s optimism could be disastrous for non-human animals, members of the millions of species who, for better or worse, share this planet with us… The infinite growth of humanity means infinite growth of humanity\u2019s problems, and one that is mostly ignored in longtermist circles is our systematic, commercialized cruelty against animals raised as livestock. In the U.S. alone, billions of animals are confined in factory farms and killed for food each year.<\/em><\/p>\n

Things are trending downwards, not upwards, morally speaking: meat consumption in the U.S. is at an all-time high. Developing countries are adopting American-style factory farms to support their growing populations. And even if global society did resolve to end concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), we definitely do not yet have the technology to make that transition possible at current consumption levels. We simply don\u2019t have enough land to replace all CAFOs with small, sustainable farms that implement more humane practices.<\/em><\/p>\n

Plant-based meat alternatives still occupy a precarious place in our economy. And it\u2019s too soon to tell if cell-cultured meat will be broadly and commercially viable at all. Right now, there\u2019s little reason to be sure that mankind will ever put an end to factory farming. Even beyond manmade atrocities, trillions upon trillions of animals inhabit the earth currently, and most, if not all of them, suffer to some degree. Prey animals live in fear of their predators, whose very nature leads them to tear their prey limb from limb in a killing that\u2019s anything but merciful.<\/em><\/p>\n

For many species, reproduction is a traumatic experience beginning with forced, painful sex. And animals of all species are subject to disease, starvation, and injury with no aid in sight. There\u2019s no reason that ethicists shouldn\u2019t consider animal suffering as well, even the naturally occurring kind. Truth be told, we don\u2019t even know the full scope of animal suffering, both human-inflicted and not. A recent study suggests that bees and other insects are sentient. Other species could be next. SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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