I don’t want to have a go at the person I’m replying to, they appear at least partly aligned with me. The fact that they’re on hexbear suggests we probably agree on a few fundamental moral claims too (although tbh I think half of you would execute me as a reactionary but I suppose if we get there I’ll die… if not happy then hopeful?). I’m genuinely curious because I run into it so much.

Now with some chuddy people their heroes have actually lined people up on rubiks cube solving ability or whatever asinine test was popular at the time and killed those at one end. This is less popular among leftists though, so I’m a bit confused as to why you’d reach for it when considering non human animals after discarding it for human animals.

Don’t get me wrong, something stirs within me when I see a non human do something I understand as “clever” but also when I see a cow indicate to me that they’d like a spot scratched, or a possum run over and interpose herself between her nest and me willing to take on something relatively titanic to save children from an unknown threat. I’m not sure why indications of feeling or desire matter more when they’re more like work?