And not just humans....animals too!
What other basis? How about the fact that it's alive? Can feel pain? Can reproduce?
I have no opinion on this...I just wanted to see other people's opinions.
Brian
Favorite Answer
Plants and animals are alive... we need to eat them to survive.
Intelligence really should not play too much factor. The strong survive. Humans have (for the most part) killed the creatures that are a threat to our existence.
Now who's to say that the birds and animals who live off of what Mother Nature provides are not the most intelligent. The fact that humans try to control Mother Nature with dams, pulling water away from rivers to support life in deserts (Las Vegas), drilling the earth and burning the minerals that are not supposed to be burned- killing the ozone layer, over population, and etc. would show me that humans are not the most intelligent. We work all day doing whatever to survive, living in a place with plumbing (most of us in America), and etc. not living off what Mother Nature gave us. We eat processed "juiced up" chickens and tomatoes, and WE are really the biggest virus this planet knows.
Just think how much we have damaged the earth just in the last 400 years, and especially since the invent of the engine and mass production.
So- the fact that something is alive and can feel pain doesn't matter. We all need to survive, and all creatures and plants "eat" other stuff. The circle of life.
A person is smart... people are stupid!
Doctor Why
You're actually closer than most people think. It's not intelligence that is the best basis, but USEFULNESS.
This is why we get rid of criminals but keep cats around. Cats make us (well, some of us) happy, feel socialized, needed, and so on. Criminals generally are criminalized because their efforts interfere with the general progress of our lives. They get in the way, so we get them out of our way.
You will find that this is true pretty much across the board. Cute animals we like are far more protected and prized than ugly ones. Useful animals are domesticated and cultivated, while destructive ones are eliminated. People who are intelligent can usually FIND ways to make themselves useful, while people who are not have to rely on whatever inherent usefulness they have to their family or society.
If there's a better single standard, I have yet to hear of it.
Mickey Mouse Spears
On what other basis anybody could make a decision regarding anything, I can't begin to imagine. Since intelligence is pretty much equal to thought, and thought is required for sentient creatures to make decisions, we pretty much have no other choice but to use intelligence to make decisions.
EDIT: Okay, I get you. I thought you were asking if people should use their brains to decide these things, and of course that's a yes.
I know my opinion will be unpopular, but I believe animals are to be used for the betterment of mankind. They should not be thoughlessly disposed of, but conserved as any non-renewable resource should.
Michael M
I think that we should treat all life with respect; however I feel that the more intelligent is an important factor that differentiates humans from other animals. If the government is in a position where they can negatively impact lesser animals in order to positively benefit humans, then they should make that decision.
Anonymous
No.
Firstly, who's standards of intelligence should be used? This could lead to discrimination in the bad sense.
Secondly, if we use intelligence as a measure then mentally retarded humans, for want of a better term, could be treated badly.
Thirdly, if more intelligent beings from space arrived and decided to eat us, we could hardly claim that our inferior intelligence should protect us when we had already harmed other life forms here for being less intelligent than us.
Fourthly, in history dominators tended to justify their actions by claiming among other things that the conqured were less intelligent.