Actually many plants have evolved responses to dangerous situations.
Some close up or fold in response to cold and heat, some curl when cut,
and many move in reaction to sunlight or darkness. Those are responses
to stimuli that in some cases are akin to what we generalize as pain.
So again, why are you concerned only about animals experiencing pain
when it is clear that plant life responds to dangerous or painful
situations too. I think you should exhibit the same level of
compassion for the carrot that you have for the sheepshead. Don't you?



bpnjensen wrote:
And it's a well established fact that plants respond to light and
temperature. So they too appear have some sensory response akin to
pain. Why should we be concerned about fish but not plants.

We should be concerned about as much as we can. We still need to
eat,
so we simply do the best we can and eat to the highest level of
compassion . Your comment on *akin to pain* is interesting, BUT..,
evolutionarily, it would not be worthwhile or advantageous in any way
for a plant to develop a "pain" sensor, since it cannot do anything
to
run or defend itself. My *guess* is that anything that gives
discomfort akin to pain in plants is probably nonexistent. To say
that
response to light is like pain is a stretch - it is more like saying
we
humans prefer relative warmth to cold.

Have you ever considered how difficult it must be to live the life
of
a
carrot? Living your early solitary life 6 inches beneath the ground
you are summarily yanked from the ground, your curly green hair is
torn

off and you are thrown into a scrubber. As a carrot your ultimate
fate

is to be either peeled, chewed, boiled or frozen. Not a pretty
picture

for carrots is it...

Very sweet and quaint, but see above.

Pretty soon we won't be eating anything....

I will eat so that my life contributes the least to the pain and
suffering of others. Simple as that.

Bruce Jensen

Actually many plants have evolved responses to dangerous situations.
Some close up or fold in response to cold and heat, some curl when cut,

and many move in reaction to sunlight or darkness. Those are responses

to stimuli that in some cases are akin to what we generalize as pain.


An opinion. Maybe a good one, but an opinion nonetheless. Pain is not
generalized - pain is pain.

So again, why are you concerned only about animals experiencing pain
when it is clear that plant life responds to dangerous or painful
situations too.

You misread me. I am concerned about all living things, down to
microbes.

I think you should exhibit the same level of
compassion for the carrot that you have for the sheepshead. Don't you?


As I said before, I will eat and live my life so as to avoid as much as
possible causing grief to other living things. For now, and until I am
shown something like proof (internet assertions do not fill this void),
I am going to have to assume that animals have the most developed
nervous systems and greatest potential for feeling pain...and that they
will get first consideration. That represents the best information I
have.

All of life is a compromise...it is unavoidable. What we can avoid is
doing any more damage than we must to survive. That is what I do when
I choose not to harm animals. I also try to use products with minimal
packaging, recycle as much as possible, work to preserve natural areas
and give other living things the best shot I can. You can argue it any
way you want - but when it comes down to it, I am acting on my
conscience and the best information I have. As one who apparently
requires not as much from yourself, you may wish to consider whether
you have a leg to stand upon when lecturing someone else when he is
trying to do what is morally right.

Bruce Jensen