I'd argue that 'evolved' behaviors that are good for all is the highest form of intelligence.
We seemed to be better adjusted when our familes more resembled monkies. Who wouldn't be well adjusted with caring aunts, uncles, grandparents assissting in their raising?
I don't care for Darwin. In modern society that boils down to, those who have the money to feed their offspring survive. What's sapient about that? Nature provides everything humans need to survive, free of charge. The key, one must have access to nature. Humans have been separated from their source of sustenance by a slew of middle men who figured out how to profit by selling nature's bounty to them. If there's no job, or their job doesn't pay a living wage, they're SOL. Are those with the resource to feed their offspring really the strongest genetic line? In what reality? They may know how to fuck people out of their money, to ensure their offspring are fed (and warehoused) but could they survive a day without the luxuries their money provides? And, I might add, one of the primary factors in why many kids are warehoused. Their parents want them to attend the best colleges and be "financially successful" at all costs. A fate almost worst than death, to slink down into the working class.
Yep, animals only kill prey to survive, unlike we sapient beings who kill animals for target practice because they are considered disposable. Thoughts of Cheney's quail hunt come to mind. Release caged dove for the VP to shoot at in a photo op. Now, that's some evolved behavior right there. Not clear on why you feel specisim is absurd, but that is but one example. Another is locking animals up in cages for human viewing and entertainment. I love getting a close up view of them in the zoo, but always feel deeply saddened by their captivity.
I hate watching those african docs, but how else is the lion to survive. Every being eats something else, from the microbe/bacteria in the soil, all the way up to the sapient beings. It's the circle of life, and those without weapons of mass destruction resort to mauling their prey, and the weakest are most likely the lion's next meal. Sapients should have to kill their next meal, rather than trot down to the hamburger joint or supermarket. Might bring a new perspective and appreciation of the non-sapients.
There's another reason for sapient beings to kill animals humanely. If the animal is in fear when they are being killed there is adreneline coarsing through their blood/tissue, along with the hormones and steroids it's been fed to plump it up for market. Who wants to eat that?
All species take care of their young, except sapient beings, unless they have been damaged.
Monkies that were kept in cages and fed from a tube protruding from a fake mother monkey could not 'care' about/for their own young, because they didn't receive care/love/whatever you want to call it. They had no attachment to their young, rejected them, and would allow them to die. What does that say about some sapient beings? You know, those ones that throw their infant in a dumpster. What does it say about the human condition? This industry is part of a much bigger social issue.
You said:
And there still is no "universal" naturalistic measure of caring or mattering unless a deity exists. Sorry.
I'm not saying its not touching, I'm saying its because it makes their genetic lines last better than the lines that didn't take care of their own offspring.
Don't those two statements contradict one another? Wouldn't an animal have to care, and wouldn't it have to matter, for them to place importance on improving their genetic line, by feeding their young? Ya think they think, "better go find some worms and crickets cause I want to feed my offspring and strengthen my genetic line"?
Nah, every being eats other beings because they're hungry and require nourishment. They feed their young because it's their inherent nature. I think animals are more in touch with thier inherent natures than we "wise, superior, sapients" at this point in history. And one of the reasons we allow the abuse of young people to continue. Humans are being conditioned away from their inherent natures, forgetting how to care for their young, forgetting how to live in a respectful way in a community of other beings. Many don't care because the current distressed human condition is a huge boon to the economy.
Distressed humans = huge profits for corporations.
Where's the incentive to create pro life social policies?
