Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinordi
Did you comprehend the essay?
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Ummm I read the portions you posted and it seemed to lack logical conclusions... And my question is specifically based on the following statements
Lobsters do not, on the other hand, appear to have the equipment for making or absorbing natural opioids like endorphins and enkephalins, which are what more advanced nervous systems use to try to handle intense pain. From this fact, though, one could conclude either that lobsters are maybe even more vulnerable to pain, since they lack mammalian nervous systems’ built-in analgesia, or, instead, that the absence of natural opioids implies an absence of the really intense pain-sensations that natural opioids are designed to mitigate. I for one can detect a marked upswing in mood as I contemplate this latter possibility: It could be that their lack of endorphin/enkephalin hardware means that lobsters’ raw subjective experience of pain is so radically different from mammals’ that it may not even deserve the term pain.
And
Lobsters, however, are known to exhibit preferences. Experiments have shown that they can detect changes of only a degree or two in water temperature; one reason for their complex migratory cycles (which can often cover 100-plus miles a year) is to pursue the temperatures they like best.
Therefore could, instead of feeling pain that would be considered creul, the lobsters could be just rapidly pursuing a temperature that they perfer. An instinctual response rather than a response from suffering. In order for it to be cruel there needs to be suffering. The above quote suggests that it is possible that they do not experience what we would describe as pain
Still, after all the abstract intellection, there remain the facts of the frantically clanking lid, the pathetic clinging to the edge of the pot. Standing at the stove, it is hard to deny in any meaningful way that this is a living creature experiencing pain and wishing to avoid/escape the painful experience. To my lay mind, the lobster’s behavior in the kettle appears to be the expression of a preference
Then the author assigns human characteristics of showing preference and assigns the flicking as a sign of pain. Is a sunflower showing a preference when it turns to follow the sun and because it decides to escape darkness does tat mean we can say sunflowers are afraid of the dark? Now if their is something else in the linked essay that you didnt post let me know and i will have a read.