Animal rights absolutists are certainly against animal studies and protest them....

wombatmobile · on Jan 4, 2022

> A hundred mice to save a human seems like a fair trade

What are you measuring or estimating in that calculus?

smt88 · on Jan 4, 2022

It's obviously subjective, but:

- mice don't live as long as humans (a dead human is more years of lost life than a dead mouse)

- mice don't mourn each other, and these mice couldn't anyway because they'll all be dead soon

- in nature, mice typically die violent deaths anyway, so lab mice usually aren't suffering worse than a wild mouse would

- mice don't get sick and suffer for years, becoming a burden to their family and society

- mice don't fear their premature deaths for months or years

I mean, I can go on and on. Knowledge of the past and future gives humans a significantly greater propensity for suffering than other animals.

wombatmobile · on Jan 5, 2022

I see what you're saying from a human's subjective point of view.

If aliens from Tralfalmadore were to adopt the same values, they might choose to experiment on humans because

- humans don't live as long as Tralfalmadorians

- humans don't mourn each other the same way Tralfalmadorians do, and these humans couldn't anyway because they'll all be dead soon

- in nature, humans typically die violent deaths anyway, so lab humans aren't suffering worse than a wild human would

- humans don't get sick and suffer for as long as Tralfalmadorians do

- humans can't predict their expiry date like Tralfalmadorians can