Reddit reviews Carnivore Minds: Who These Fearsome Animals Really Are

Hi MrJKFrosty! You raise a few different points, so I will address them one by one. I'm not an ethical expert, just a very happy vegan. Here goes:

>It's natural for animals to eat meat, and therefor we shouldn't be exempt from that reality.

It's natural for some animals to eat meat. Human beings are able to eat many different kinds of food, including meat. We also can eat candy, beer, insects, human meat, shoe leather, etc. It would be very difficult to decide what is really a "natural" human diet. Historically, humans have eaten whatever is most available and provides the best nutritional/energy rewards. Some primates eat other animals, and others do not. As modern humans, we have the choice to eat what makes the most sense for us according to a variety of factors, not just broad-sweeping labels of what's natural.

>Yes, animals have less developed brains than humans and thus it's more difficult for them to make conscious decisions, but humans are not to blame for that. It's a consequence of billions of years of evolution, adaptation and natural selection. Sorry guys, but I'm not going to make things harder on myself just because I have the burden of being a more developed organism.

As you said earlier, humans are animals. Every other species on earth doesn't have less developed brains than humans - this is a lie humans tell ourselves to justify our treatment of other species. Our brains are remarkably similar to other vertebrates. They're just specialized for our environments. It's no more difficult for other species to make conscious decisions than it is for us. You are not a more developed organism than every other kind of animal. You are just a different kind of organism. Isn't it convenient that humans would place humans at the top of our intelligence hierarchies? Ranking intelligence by human standards will always put humans at the top. We're better at being humans than any other animal. We can win human intelligence tests any day of the week. There's a lot of really interesting reading you could do on this, but if you're interested specifically in the neurological question of how our brains compare to those of other species, check out Carnivore Minds.

>Many carnivorous animals are capable of safely consuming plants, while only a handful of species (certain lion species, for example) are physically incapable of eating vegetation.

I agree.

>In contrast, animals in the wild are brutally and relentlessly mauled apart with the claws and teeth their predator exhibits.

This is a generalization. Every carnivorous/predatory species hunts differently. Yes, some do cause their prey to suffer. Others don't.

For me, the existence of predator/prey relationships doesn't compel me to change my behavior one way or the other. My veganism tells me to eat as low on the food chain as possible in order to minimize suffering, because I can do so and thrive as a very healthy human. I eat delicious food every day, I feel great, I'm a healthy weight, and I get to pull myself out of the factory farming system altogether. I recognize that not all humans throughout history have been able to do that. Historically, humans have been both prey and predator. Now, our species acts as an apex predator. Why defend our factory farms when we have much simpler and kinder options readily available to us?