[afiori]

If treated well I think they would appreciate it until suddenly they would stop appreciating it.

From an evolutionary point of view is definitely a (perverted) mutualism (perverted as in the artificial selection on cows make them quite unfit to human-free life).

On the appreciation side it would be relevant to know more about how cows see humans. I believe many cows in farms are quite happy and many (more) cows are quite miserable.

> Personally I doubt it, which makes calling it "mutualism" a euphemism.

Overall if we assume cows do not have a cultural understanding of "humans are going to kill us" this would look more like a projection of our society on them.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

I don't think them lacking knowledge of that fact changes the situation any, though pedantically I'll admit that it would change their perspective of it.

[afiori]

It changes everything in may opinion, but this is highly subjective as it is a human-to-human moral judgment.

My view on the topic is that there is a predefined innate concept of a good life for all complex life, including cows, and with my current knowledge I see no reason why a cow in a farm would be unable to live a good life. Obviously in too many cases industrial optimization is clearly opposed to this, still I see no reason not to call [0] (assuming the context given as true) a mutually beneficial relationship

[0] https://preview.redd.it/g5l57bwdd4p01.jpg?width=960&crop=sma...

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

In a hypothetical reality where they are not slaughtered so early in their life cycle just because humans want something that tastes more interesting than grain, I could agree with that sentiment. That's not the reality we live in, however.

[afiori]

With this I can agree, mostly due to the fact that cows form (I believe) family bonds.