David Boree

You know, for example, ants, I don't think can make moral decisions, you know, in any way that we would recognize. They certainly don't think about stuff that way. But 2025 research published by Dr. Volker Nehring found evidence that ants are capable of remembering for long periods of time violent encounters they have with other individual ants and holding grudges against those ants. Right.

They're just like us. And there's strong evidence that ants do feel pain, right? We're now pretty sure of that. And in fact, again, this is an argument that a number of researchers in this space will make. Sentience is probably – something like this kind of sentience, the ability to have subjective positive and negative experiences is universal to living things or very close to it, right? Yeah.

They're just like us. And there's strong evidence that ants do feel pain, right? We're now pretty sure of that. And in fact, again, this is an argument that a number of researchers in this space will make. Sentience is probably – something like this kind of sentience, the ability to have subjective positive and negative experiences is universal to living things or very close to it, right? Yeah.

They're just like us. And there's strong evidence that ants do feel pain, right? We're now pretty sure of that. And in fact, again, this is an argument that a number of researchers in this space will make. Sentience is probably – something like this kind of sentience, the ability to have subjective positive and negative experiences is universal to living things or very close to it, right? Yeah.

It's an interesting body of research, but it's fairly solid at this point. Again, I say this as somebody who hunts and raises livestock. I don't think there's any solid reason to disagree with this. You can see there's a basis to a lot of what Thomas is saying, which is that what matters is reducing the overall amount of suffering in the world.

It's an interesting body of research, but it's fairly solid at this point. Again, I say this as somebody who hunts and raises livestock. I don't think there's any solid reason to disagree with this. You can see there's a basis to a lot of what Thomas is saying, which is that what matters is reducing the overall amount of suffering in the world.

It's an interesting body of research, but it's fairly solid at this point. Again, I say this as somebody who hunts and raises livestock. I don't think there's any solid reason to disagree with this. You can see there's a basis to a lot of what Thomas is saying, which is that what matters is reducing the overall amount of suffering in the world.

If you're looking at suffering as a mass, if you're just adding up all of the bad things experienced by all of the living things, animal suffering is a lot of the suffering. So if our goal is to reduce suffering, animal welfare is hugely important, right? It's a great place to start. Great. Fine enough. You know, a little bit of a weird way to phrase it, but fine. Hmm. So here's the way.

If you're looking at suffering as a mass, if you're just adding up all of the bad things experienced by all of the living things, animal suffering is a lot of the suffering. So if our goal is to reduce suffering, animal welfare is hugely important, right? It's a great place to start. Great. Fine enough. You know, a little bit of a weird way to phrase it, but fine. Hmm. So here's the way.

If you're looking at suffering as a mass, if you're just adding up all of the bad things experienced by all of the living things, animal suffering is a lot of the suffering. So if our goal is to reduce suffering, animal welfare is hugely important, right? It's a great place to start. Great. Fine enough. You know, a little bit of a weird way to phrase it, but fine. Hmm. So here's the way.

Problem, though. Thomas, like all these guys. spends too much time, none of them can be like, hey, had a good thought. We're done. Setting that thought down. Moving on. So he keeps thinking about shit like this, and it leads him to some very irrational takes. For example, in 2014, Tomasek starts arguing that it might be immoral to kill characters in video games.

Problem, though. Thomas, like all these guys. spends too much time, none of them can be like, hey, had a good thought. We're done. Setting that thought down. Moving on. So he keeps thinking about shit like this, and it leads him to some very irrational takes. For example, in 2014, Tomasek starts arguing that it might be immoral to kill characters in video games.

Problem, though. Thomas, like all these guys. spends too much time, none of them can be like, hey, had a good thought. We're done. Setting that thought down. Moving on. So he keeps thinking about shit like this, and it leads him to some very irrational takes. For example, in 2014, Tomasek starts arguing that it might be immoral to kill characters in video games.

And I'm going to quote from an article in Vox. He argues that while NPCs do not have anywhere near the mental complexity of animals, the difference is one of degree rather than kind, and we should care at least a tiny amount about their suffering, especially as they grow more complex. Man.

And I'm going to quote from an article in Vox. He argues that while NPCs do not have anywhere near the mental complexity of animals, the difference is one of degree rather than kind, and we should care at least a tiny amount about their suffering, especially as they grow more complex. Man.

And I'm going to quote from an article in Vox. He argues that while NPCs do not have anywhere near the mental complexity of animals, the difference is one of degree rather than kind, and we should care at least a tiny amount about their suffering, especially as they grow more complex. Man.

And his argument is that, like, yeah, it doesn't matter, like, individually killing a Goomba or a guy in GTA V, but, like, because they're getting more complicated and able to, like, try to avoid injury and stuff, there's evidence that there's some sort of suffering there. And thus, the sheer mass of NPCs being killed, that might be, like, enough that it's ethically relevant to consider.

And his argument is that, like, yeah, it doesn't matter, like, individually killing a Goomba or a guy in GTA V, but, like, because they're getting more complicated and able to, like, try to avoid injury and stuff, there's evidence that there's some sort of suffering there. And thus, the sheer mass of NPCs being killed, that might be, like, enough that it's ethically relevant to consider.

And his argument is that, like, yeah, it doesn't matter, like, individually killing a Goomba or a guy in GTA V, but, like, because they're getting more complicated and able to, like, try to avoid injury and stuff, there's evidence that there's some sort of suffering there. And thus, the sheer mass of NPCs being killed, that might be, like, enough that it's ethically relevant to consider.

That's...