I Don't Understand The Notion

Sometimes Animals May Suffer More Because Of Their More Limited Understanding. If, For Instance, We Are Taking Prisoners In Wartime We Can Explain To Them That Although They Must Submit To Capture, Search, And Confinement, They Will Not Otherwise Be Harmed And Will Be Set Free At The Conclusion Of Hostilities. If We Capture Wild Animals, However, We Cannot Explain That We Are Not Threatening Their Lives. A Wild Animal Cannot Distinguish An Attempt To Overpower And Confine From An Attempt To Kill; The One Causes As Much Terror As The Other.

Dolphins Are Social Mammals, Capable Of Enjoying Their Lives. They Form Close Bonds With Other Members Of Their Group.

If A Being Suffers There Can Be No Moral Justification For Refusing To Take That Suffering Into Consideration. No Matter What The Nature Of The Being, The Principle Of Equality Requires That Its Suffering Be Counted Equally With The Like Suffering - Insofar As Rough Comparisons Can Be Made - Of Any Other Being. So The Limit Of Sentience Is The Only Defensible Boundary Of Concern For The Interests Of Others. To Mark This Boundary By Some Other Characteristic Like Intelligence Or Rationality Would Be To Mark It In An Arbitrary Manner. Why Not Choose Some Other Characteristic, Like Skin Color?

So, Basically, My View Is I Don't Want To Support The Exploitation Of Animals, And Within Reason, I Will Do What I Can To Avoid It, But It's Not Like It's A Religion For Me. It's Not Like I Consider I'm Polluted If Somehow Some Bit Of Milk Or Cheese Or Something Passes My Lips.

In My World Of The People Who Study War And Defense Issues, We Simply Did Not Talk About Robotics. We Do Not Talk About It Because It's Seen As Mere Science Fiction. It's Cold, Hard, Metallic Reality.