Dominion (2018) - full documentary [Official]

By which definition of "relevant" are animal cruelty[0] and pandemic-level diseases not included? COVID-19 is very "tame" compared to what's possible. There's a sense in which we're lucky that we got this pandemic as a practice round for something which we know has the potential to be much, much worse. This isn't controversial at all. [0] If you think it's not that bad, watch Dominion: ▶ this video

in “Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that reduces methane emissions by 80%” · View on HN

This is probably me not being able to “read the room” but this study both makes me very happy and very sad. I recently watched Dominion documentary [1] and the more we learn about animals cognition the more I feel the weight of their massive abuse especially in the last 150 years. (The recent story of an HNer interacting with a spider on his desk was really cool though, I don’t have a link anymore.) Without judging anyone or their behavior in particular I just feel repelled by our treatment of other clearly cognitive beings. The people working these places don’t seem like ones you would want around anyone in society either and I don’t buy the story that it’s only bad in some places. I’d wager that it’s really bad in most cases. [1] ▶ this video

in “UCLA Study Finds Laughter in 65 Species, from Rats to Cows” · View on HN

This documentary is worth watching: ▶ this video (Dominion, released in 2018, unfortunately requires signing into youtube due to age retrictions)

in “An Animal’s Place (2002)” · View on HN

Oh boy, let me tell you, animals absolutely know what we are doing to them. They suffer immensely. Check this out, it offers just a glimpse into what that suffering includes: ▶ this video

in “Animal testing is exploitative and largely ineffective” · View on HN

Human evolution is poorly understood, and the assumption that any choice $X supposedly made by early humans led to our forefathers’ anamolously rapid brain development is flatly speculative. > Unlike most great apes today, whose diet is primarily plant based, we can thank the incredible nutrient density in meat and our incredible hunting and tool creating ability for prefrontal cortex development. Complete and utter speculation. > We were pack hunters, forging tools and strategies capable of taking down mammoths. Call it 'diabolicaly evil' if you want, but this is simply nature and survival. Subsistence hunting amongst early human tribes is not comparable to modern day factory farming in any conceivable way. B12 doesn’t come from eating plants OR animals: it comes from bacteria, and ironically that bacteria is in such short supply on factory farms that the animals need to be injected with synthetic B12. > I don't personally believe highly processed plant alternatives such as Beyond meat are a long term option if you're even vaguely interested in your own health. I eat raw soybeans, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds. I’d recommend watching the documentary Forks Over Knives [1] if you care about your personal health, and the documentary Dominion [2], if you’d like to see what really happens on factory farms. [1]: [link] [2]: ▶ this video

in “Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)” · View on HN

How happy are these animals in the documentary, Dominion? ▶ this video Your post presents a nice rainbows and sunshine guess at how the animal ag industry works, and I really wish it worked like that, too.

in “Farm animals in India and China are becoming more resistant to antibiotics” · View on HN

It's not about how the animals look when they are dead. It's about what they have to endure while they are alive. ▶ this video

in “CowToilet, a Toilet for Cows” · View on HN

> We eat meat. Purely for taste. > We need to eat meat. False. 10-20% of the world population does not and we're just fine. > So we need to kill animals for that. No, you want to kill animals because you want tasty food. Not because you "need" meat. No one living in an industrialized country does. It's trivial to create a plant-based balanced diet (and a tasty one at that.) > Zoos absolutely not required for humans to survive. Neither are factory farms. They exist to satisfy "taste buds go brr." But that is not worth literally torturing[1] an animal to death. [1]: ▶ this video

in “Wild orangutan seen healing his wound with a plant” · View on HN

> i eat them bc i dont want to gave to take unregulated supplements to make up for nutrtional deficiencies you wouldnt have if you just ate meat. B12 isn’t reliably absorbed from meat. Everyone should be taking a b12 supplement unless they eat b12 fortified cereals or get regular blood work but supplements are the cheapest method for most. “ A careful look at 3,000 men and women in the ongoing Framingham Offspring Study found 39 percent with plasma B12 levels in the “low normal” range--below 258 picomoles per liter. While this is well above the currently accepted deficiency level of 148 pmol/L, some people exhibit neurological symptoms in the higher range, said study leader Katherine Tucker... The researchers also expected to find some connection between dietary intake and plasma levels, even though other studies found no association. And they did find a connection. Supplement use dropped the percentage of volunteers in the danger zone--plasma B12 below 185 pmol/L--from 20 percent to 8. Eating fortified cereals five or more times a week or being among the highest third for dairy intake reduced, by nearly half, the percentage of volunteers in that zone--from 23 and 24 percent, respectively, to 12 and 13 percent. Oddly, the researchers found no association between plasma B12 levels and meat, poultry, and fish intake, even though these foods supply the bulk of B12 in the diet. “It’s not because people aren’t eating enough meat,” Tucker said. “The vitamin isn’t getting absorbed.”

in “Meat-eating extends human life expectancy worldwide” · View on HN

As far as hurting animals for entertainment goes, we can look at our meals for inspiration. The average person will cause magnitudes more suffering than the bull runs thanks to their dietary choices. Factory farms are objectively the largest producers of suffering this planet has ever seen [1, 2], and most people consume the meat they produce for pleasure as opposed to necessity. [1]: ▶ this video [2]: [link]

in “Pamplona Bull Runs Reveal Dynamics of Crowds in Danger” · View on HN

If you could grow and kill with a small fraction of the suffering that farmed animals endure today, then eating meat would be mostly fine (other than environmental issues, perhaps). Unfortunately that's impossible for all but a very small minority of people - those who can raise and kill animals themselves or have someone they trust very well to do it for them.[0][1] Well over 95% of meat is factory farmed[2], and animals that are raised in factory farms do not live pleasant lives, to put it lightly.[3] This is coming from someone who grew up on a farm, and whose parents are still farmers. [0] People think that buying from their local butcher or local farm must make their meat ethical. In fact, small abbatoirs often have very shoddy killing protocols compared to the large ones. You end up with farmers clubbing animals to death, or putting 5 bullets into a pig's head before it dies: [link] [1] Hunting isn't an ethical source of meat. Even professional hunters (e.g. those who kill kangaroos for farmers in AU) will let ~1 in 20 get away with a bullet in them. That could mean suffering for hours or even days if it clots but then dies due to internal bleeding or infection. I used to hunt and I would go to sleep thinking about the animals that got away wounded that day. Still, it took me far too long to realise that there is no need to eat animals. [2] [link] [3] ▶ this video

in “Ask HN: What startup/technology is on your 'to watch' list?” · View on HN

I'm not here to be your enemy, so please don't make me out to be one. I wasn't raised vegetarian by any means, and I know fully well meat tastes amazingly good, and that having a varied diet is important. But heart disease, diabetes and many types of cancers are worryingly linked with the consumption of meat, dairy and eggs. As the documentary Forks Over Knives [1] makes abundantly clear, a whole foods plant-based diet is in every way a life extension technology. > Is that something to be ashamed of? Wanting to feel satiated is nothing to be ashamed of. What is arguably shameful, however, is how the bacon gets made [2]. [1]: [link] [2]: ▶ this video

in “Wildlife in ‘catastrophic decline’ due to human destruction, scientists warn” · View on HN

To anyone reading this thread and thinking "The horror!": Being culled through these various methods is no better or worse than they would have experienced under "normal" conditions - i.e. being raised until they are fit for slaughter and sale. No animal wants to die, and the methods used to kill them when being sold are just as cruel as the "culling" techniques listed here [1]. If you don't like what you're reading in this article, go vegan. Otherwise, you're paying for other people to inflict this sort of suffering on animals. [1] Dominion (2018): ▶ this video

in “Millions of US farm animals to be culled by suffocation, drowning and shooting” · View on HN

> slaughter methods involve less suffering than all of us are likely to experience at our deaths, and likewise less than animals in nature generally experience Sure, but that says nothing about the suffering these animals experience during their (short [1]) lives, which is typically immense [2] - >=97% of farm animals are raised on factory farms (except for cows, at 78%) [3]. So yes, people should be aware of the facts. Out of curiosity, why did you shift away from a vegan diet? [1] [link] [2] ▶ this video [3] [link]

in “Millions of US farm animals to be culled by suffocation, drowning and shooting” · View on HN