How important is staying alive to animals, plants etc?

[Marktheghost]

Is life as important to other animals and plants etc as it is to humans?

When I was thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of killing myself, 1 of the advantages I thought of was the fact that it saves the lives of other animals that would be killed for my food. Do other animals and plants etc care about staying alive as much as humans do though? How big a reason in favour of killing myself is this?

 

[overcomingfear]

animals and plants would be killed for food anyway. its an industry. sounds like a noble idea but it is meaningless for me. non human things always want to live and reproduce

 

[BeansOfRequirement]

Plants are such greedy little bastards, there is no end to their wants.

 

[FuneralCry]

I guess all living things are programmed to survive. I guess animals and plants do not have the higher level of consciousness that humans have, so they act solely based on the instinct to survive. I agree with what is said above, the animals will be killed for food anyway.

 

[motel rooms]

Try & attack a cat & you'll find out just how important it is to animals to stay alive

 

[Alwaysbadtime]

Of course animals feel pain and stress. They don't want to die other than the ones I have read about that commit suicide. One reason I want to go is I don't want to keep knowing about and worrying about animals whose existences are horrible. Plants I think can feel pain...but I don't think it's at all the same as an animal with a brain.

 

[Lost Magic]

I wanted to get a dog when my loved ones died. I was lonely and grieving (still am tbh). I am glad that I never went through with it because the burden would be too great for the little poochie poos if I decided to end it. I met a few dogs when I was grieving and they knew how sad I was and they gave me unconditional love and comfort. I feel teary eyed just thinking about the affection those animals gave me when I needed them. If I had a dog I would probably stay around for him/her. Yes. Hope that helps.

 

[Pluto]

I've never gotten a pet because I'm not committed to being around for its entire lifetime. Plus there are not-nice stories behind pet food (failed racehorses, etc.) I've been vegetarian for 20 years and there is something to be said for supporting cruelty-free industries, though it's not a reason to live miserably in itself.

Humanity has outlawed slavery starting in the 19th century, started to give equality to women in the 20th century and I think that basic levels of humanity for animals will happen this century - aside from the whole mass extinction thing. Newer food technologies will bring health advantages, eliminate the need for vast amounts of land for 'livestock' and the horror will end at last. But it's always a slow process with humans, as they have a talent for covering up their ugliness.

 

[MiseryWithoutCompany]

I think an animal's SI is what programs most of them. The more complex their brain, however, the more likely they are to contemplate suicide. Um... this is all strictly what I think though, likely not entirely true...

Say, a rabbit or deer. They bolt the minute they sense danger. Being "prey" animals however, if they are caught under significant stress, their bodily functions cease, and they simple die. It's not necessarily suicide in the same way we would want, but more like a horrible meltdown. Even male octopuses simply shut down after mating - they starve theirselves and almost "age" rapidly. Though, unsure if they are aware of any of this resulting from their decisions prior to...

In dolphins however, their minds are complex enough for them to consider suicide should the situation call for it. (i.e. beaching theirselves, E.C.C.O. experimental dolphins drowning theirselves) Perhaps... complex minds give way to complex forms of misery, something beyond "oh no i am going to die" "ok i am safe". Sadness that persists despite how the situation presents itself at the current moment... I don't think animals have a stigma against suicide. Many don't quite understand death itself, but suicide and the mental gymnastics humans put one another through surrounding it... that's steictly a human thing.

Even though humans dying would technically benefit the earth, I don't think a single one of us CTB will have a major impact on the earth and animal industries. I could be wrong of course but... I don't think we have a high enough business position for it to be a massively impactful thing in that area specifically.

 

[littlelungs]

Just a quick disclaimer: I'm vegan, which I'm well-aware might make some people automatically hate me (I've been around the block a few times... that said, it was mostly on Instagram, which is just a cesspool most of the time, anyway) but I'm not looking for an argument or trying to attack anyone or to tell anyone in particular what to do, with anything that I say. If I ever say the word "should", I'm just using it in the context of my personal point of view, which I've massively simplified here.

TLDR: I'm just here to share my perspective. :)

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I think we all inherently have that biological drive to survive and keep our species going. The difference between plants and non-human animals, though, is the presence of pain receptors and a central nervous system. Plants can react to stimuli (e.g. a Venus fly trap), but I haven't seen any peer-reviewed reports conclusively stating that plants have pain receptors/CNS, and thus are able to feel pain. Non-human animals, on the other hand, have both of these things. I think the question is not so much one of intelligence, but rather, if they are sentient and capable of suffering – I think most of us, at the very least, would agree that cutting a carrot isn't the same thing as cutting an animal's throat. Even if plants do feel pain, though, it would still make more sense to adopt a plant-based diet, just mathematically speaking, as animals typically used for food consume way more plants than we would if we just ate the plants directly. For those who say, "Well, the animal is already dead, anyway,"... this is true, but it's only because people continue to support it with their dollar. It's just supply and demand – if you pay for something to happen, then it will continue to happen. If you don't, then it will steadily go down, as the statistics have unambiguously shown, in even just the past ten years or so. You know what I mean?

We humans love to think that we're the best things that have ever happened to this planet, that we're number one, etc, and that because we objectively have more power over other living beings, that we have the right to do whatever we want to other sentient beings because we're more powerful (it's a very "might makes right" line of logic). But I think that with a great amount of power also comes with a lot of responsibility – among them, protecting those who are more vulnerable, rather than exploiting them. Humans have just done so much damage to the world, and as a species, we're arrogant as hell on top of that. This is one of the (many) reasons why I don't want to live anymore; I simply can't watch us continue to harm other sentient beings (human or not) and recklessly destroy this planet anymore. It's depressing and makes me feel completely hopeless.

I can't really say what killing oneself would do as it relates to your question (I recently took a muscle relaxant so I'm a bit loopy at the moment, but I might come back to that after giving it a little more thought!), but I do think that we should aim to minimize the harm that we contribute to in the rest of the world as much as much as we can, while we're still alive. Yeah, this world is absolute shit, and it's unfortunately not possible to live completely free of harm, but I think that what matters is that we do the best we can.

Some of the things I've said might piss some people off, which is absolutely not my intention, and I'm genuinely sorry if that's what happens. (I guess this could be said for just about any answer on this forum, though... humans are interesting, I'll give us that. ) Again, I'm just sharing my point of view and answering the questions that OP posted, as simplified as I possibly can. :)

This is a good question/topic, OP, and I've enjoyed reading the answers so far.