Wild animals live free and happy
The adults we see are the exception: in most species, almost all young die shortly after birth, from hunger, cold, disease or predation
Full chapterM2Suffering and death are part of nature
Diseases are part of human life too, and that was never a reason not to treat them; the harm isn't smaller for the victim because no one is to blame
Full chapterM3We didn't cause it, so we have no duty to help
Omission bias: no one would accept this reasoning about a drowning child or flood victims
Full chapterM4It's impossible to solve suffering in nature; it's too big and complex
Not being able to solve everything is no reason to do nothing: we already vaccinate foxes, rescue animals in disasters, and can research to do more
Full chapterM5Meddling with nature is wrong; we could make everything worse
Risk calls for study and caution, as in medicine, not for omission: that is the proposal of welfare biology
Full chapterM6Who are we to interfere with nature?
We interfere all the time, with cities, farming and medicine; and no one calls helping an injured person arrogant
Full chapterM7A balanced nature is good for animals
Balance measures numbers, not wellbeing; and environmental programmes kill thousands of animals for goals we would never accept for humans
Full chapterM8Helping wild animals isn't veganism; it's a different cause
If sentience is what matters, suffering doesn't stop counting because we didn't cause it; and one cause doesn't stop us researching the other
Full chapterM9Machines will never feel; robots and AIs need no rights
If an artificial mind ever feels, its substrate matters no more than species does; and uncertainty calls for precaution before creating minds at scale
Full chapterM10Using medicine and genetics to end suffering is playing God
We already use anaesthesia, vaccines and painkillers without calling it playing God; the issue is safety and consent, not the natural origin of pain
Full chapterM11Those not yet born don't matter
Whoever is born will feel what we leave them: that's why burying toxic waste is wrong, even if the victims don't exist yet
Full chapterM12That's science fiction; we have real problems now
An uncertain but immense risk can deserve attention, and much of what reduces future suffering, like widening the moral circle, also helps now
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