[Sparky]

i was having a discussion lately about animal rights etc. and they kept bringing up the point that we have an obligation to end suffering wherever it may be.

my response to this had to do with crops, now, when we harvest corn, we use a massive tractor to strip away the valuable corn, and trample the stalks and leave them to die a slow, prolonged death of starvation (basically drying out) so, if that corn had a brain, it would definetly believe itself to be suffering. so, why is it that some neurons in an animals brain acknowledging the suffering, make it a worthwhile cause?

you could parallel it to the old "if a tree falls in the woods, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound" so is suffering the cruel acts, or is suffering the cognitive recognition of those acts.

and if the latter, would you be ok with horrendously killing a brain-dead animal?