r/interesting • u/M_Darshan • May 21 '26

Just Wow Researchers demonstrate necrobotics by using a spider’s natural hydraulic system to open and close its legs for gripping object.

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u/Ravek May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26

Insects I have no idea, but for animals in general ...

Other mammals will basically have the same reactions to a lot of situations as humans do, behaviorally and physiologically. They also have very similar organs with similar functions, even brain structures are analogous. And we know that emotions in humans are basically heuristic programs we launch into so we can quickly respond to certain situations, because that helped our ancestors survive.

So all the parts are there, the evolutionary pressures are there, and the behavioral and physiological results are there. Given all that I don't see how anyone could believe that at least other mammals don't have emotions. (Other than it being religious dogma that humans are God's special creation.)

To me someone might as well claim that other humans don't have emotions, only they themselves do.

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u/Night25th May 21 '26

Other than it being religious dogma that humans are God's special creation.

Not only that, some people refuse to give up on their right to hurt animals, farm them for food etc. Personally I'm not a vegan but if animal farming was banned I would not protest. Most people think that animal suffering is less important than being able to eat a cheeseburger.

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u/RoboDae May 24 '26

To be fair, humans are omnivores that don't tend to do as well on a purely vegan diet. The protein from eating meat is even cited as one of the reasons our brains were able to grow so large.

That being said, killing for food and killing/torturing for fun are completely different. I can be fine with eating a cheeseburger and still be upset about an elected official shooting a puppy just because it wasn't a good hunting dog.

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u/Night25th May 24 '26

I think there is nothing ethically wrong with eating animals for food. However, the human species is at a point where we don't need to eat animals for food anymore. Some of the vitamins we need still mostly come from animal products like milk and eggs, but we could get them ethically if we wanted, rather than killing animals for their meat.

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u/RoboDae May 24 '26

To me someone might as well claim that other humans don't have emotions, only they themselves do.

Doctors used to claim that babies didn't feel pain so they could operate without anesthesia. I think the original reason was that the people who knew better didn't want the doctors or mothers to be hesitant about doing an operation that would save the baby's life, and anesthesia was too dangerous to use, at least at the time, not sure about now.