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by gridlockd 2590 days ago
You dodged the question. Is it better to live a life in terror than not having lived at all?

If these animals lived in the wild in such numbers, they would eventually overbreed and starve, unless there was a predator animal that kept their numbers in check.
2 comments
kranner 2590 days ago
Ok, in my opinion it would be better for them not to have existed at all.
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sethammons 2590 days ago
Does that not translate to all life? Humans included? No kids for you? Honestly asking. Not being snide. Lots of people feel this way.
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kranner 2590 days ago
I haven’t considered the case for humans, but probably yes. All life might include simple organisms that don’t have the capacity to suffer, and in their case it obviously won’t matter. Yes, no kids for me.
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PretzelPirate 2590 days ago
That isn’t a good question. You are asking if a creature who doesn’t exist is less happy than a creature who exists to suffer.

The creature who doesn’t exist has no sentience and shouldn’t be considered as a perspective in the decision.

On top of that, the choice isn’t to breed these creatures in captivity by the millions or have them living in the wild by the millions. The choice is to breed millions of animals who will live a life of suffering, or do nothing, and no one exists to suffer. We aren’t going to see a huge wild farm animal population come into existence if we stop breeding them - nature could never support their population.

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gridlockd 2590 days ago
> You are asking if a creature who doesn’t exist is less happy than a creature who exists to suffer.

No, you are changing the question. I'm not asking "a creature that doesn't exist", I am asking you which is better: To never have lived, or to have lived in terror. I'm also not talking about happiness. Life isn't about happiness and life in nature isn't "happy" either.

Perhaps you can answer a different question: Would you rather die (i.e. not exist) than live such a "life of terror"? If you knew you were slaughtered at age thirty, would you kill yourself at any earlier age?

> We aren’t going to see a huge wild farm animal population come into existence if we stop breeding them - nature could never support their population.

Even so, nature's answer for population control is starvation and predation. Natural life is a constant struggle for survival. Life on a farm is not such a struggle.

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