I agree very much and have thought the same for a long time, since childhood.
Was always confused about some of the more extreme stances from eco and animal activists about humans being the great source of cruelty and that humans should just go extinct to make the world a beautiful perfectly balanced ecosystem.
I am on board for environmental stewardship and fighting animal cruelty. But let's not be delusional. Ecosystems are built on cruelty, in-balance, out-of-balance, humans or no humans. The more I learn about some qualities of plants and fungi I wonder that they too are suffering. Suffering seems to be the norm.
I was once deployed to a desert region some years ago and flies were a nuisance. I built a fly trap by cutting off the top of a large water bottle and inverting it and duct taping it like that. Then I put just a little bit of water and some sugary drink in there. The flies readily go down through the narrow opening but are seldom able to find the same exit, instead getting stuck in the corners near the top trying to fly out.
Well, after a few weeks it became its own eco-system. I was shocked. I'm not even sure those of you reading will believe it, but I did take a photo of the aftermath if someone really wants to see the tragic result. The scarcity of water and food in the desert I guess was the driver. Other creatures started to pour in. Some wasps (guessing from the sugary drink), beetles, other insects, and towards the end, ants. One day I looked at the bottle and this may sound lame but I was a bit traumatized. The ants were really tearing apart the other insects that were losing energy. I distinctly remember seeing various fly body parts within ant mandibles. It was like a furious hellish gladiatorial death chamber in there. I was already pretty depressed since I was deployed to a war zone as a dumb kid, but seeing that just really informed me that "yeah, it's just the same shit at EVERY level. This is what nature IS."
Yes we're talking about insects here but that's just the thing. When you look at them up close they look like evil monster killing machines from hell. Cuz that's what they are. They inspire the designs of monsters and demons in our horror films and literature. It's not just them. It's all of nature. Food is the suffering of other organisms. "Energy" right?
You know how hippies and everyone high AF on psychs is always going on and on about "we're just energy bro" ? I think they're on to something. Our brains and bodies are indeed operating on energy and we compete for it. Thus, it would not surprise me if even plants conducting photosynthesis is not cruelty-free. Like, they are consuming energy too. I know it sounds crazy, but evil torment and suffering is just so ubiquitous it wouldn't surprise me if some form of consciousness is enduring suffering in the process.
Here's a thought experiment. Let's say energy from whatever source, let's say our sun at the beginning of the food chain, is not conscious. But it is captured by plants through photosynthesis and moves up the food chain. The energy went from being pure free light coursing through the cosmos to being integrated into a conscious system (say humans eventually). Therefore, it IS causing suffering where non presumably was before. Just like reproduction is the source of all suffering for humans.
