>there were other mitigating factors as well, but the sum of
>them are only irrelevant if a human life is infinitely more
>valuable than a gorillas.

Unless we're talking about bees the human life is, on balance, infinitely more valuable than any other form of life we have on this planet.

>>What, they were supposed to take that chance? Trust in king
>>fucking kong to be all gentle giant and take tender, loving
>>care of the child?
>>
>>The fuckery about it only making sense if the kid has a soul
>>has to be a joke.

>the reason these "uhohs" happen to animals like this gorilla
>(AND PEOPLE TOO) is that we have a habit of devaluing shit
>that's not like us and far away in time/space.

lol wut

You’re talking about this like the gorilla was killed in a vacuum.


>things happen, it's "well, what were we supposed to do." this
>gorilla's entire life was planned and controlled by people. i
>get why he was killed,

If you get why he was killed,

but it's more than a "poor fucking
>gorilla" moment.

No. No it’s not. It’s a “poor gorilla” moment. Like… most people feel bad for the gorilla. It’s a sad thing for the gorilla.

there's a long chain of value assumptions
>that got us there.

The issue at hand is the decision to kill the gorilla in that moment and the CORRECT DECISION WAS MADE. It was an unfortunate decision that was difficult to execute but easily made. If you have an issue with zoo’s and whatnot, cool.

>and we do need to be conscious about the value we place on
>other lives.

Yeah, we do, and that’s why we have animal rights. Guess what? The fact that WE are the ones with the power and responsibility to ponder such issues is precisely why our lives are more valuable on balance…… particularly in a situation where a child is in potential danger at the hands of an animal.

>we do need to recognize that the biggest difference between
>people and gorillas is that we have the technology to build
>zoos and guns and destroy habitats.

That’s the biggest difference? You can’t truly believe this. Talk about not thinking deeply enough on a subject. The biggest difference is our brain. Our cognitive abilities. Hell, fuck the *biggest* difference, there’s a long ass list of differences before we even get to “technology”. This is some hackneyed philosophical gobbledygook you’re spitting .

>there are certainly people who have lived their entire lives
>with the mental and emotional capacities of gorilla. most
>people believe it is important value those lives, so i think
>it's a fair to question why it wouldn't apply to a gorilla.

Lol ok. You’re taking a specific event and trying to apply a broader philosophy and it just doesn’t fit. You’re “questioning” why it wouln’t apply to a gorilla and that’s all good but the most telling part of this is that you stillhaven’t explained why it DOES apply to a gorilla.

>and again, i'm not saying what they did was wrong. i just see
>an awful lot of people being smug about something they're not
>thinking through.

Interesting take considering you’re not doing such a hot job of thinking this through yourself .You’re essentially doing the whole “I’m just asking questions” bit just to be contrary. This is evident in the fact that you haven’t really made an argument for why a gorilla should be treated on equal footing with humans.

>>Unless the human in question is a rapist or serial killer or
>>some shit, the life of any human is, on balance, the more
>>important life in comparison to any other animal. There's
>just
>>no debating that.
>
>so you're going with 1)

>>The kid doesn't need a soul. The kid could have no soul at
>>all, it makes no difference.

>then explain why there's no debate. try to do it without
>invoking #2.

I’ll “do it” however I choose. You don’t get to box people into a discussion in a way that caters to your particular world view. It’s easy to win a debate when you take control of all the parameters but you can keep your cheat code. Frankly, you haven’t even made the case for why the gorilla’s life should be given equal footing. For someone who seems to think he’s thinking more deeply about this than the rest of us you’re not exactly showing your work besides challenging the popular opinion for no reason other than it’s the popular opinion.

Even within the confines of our respective species, an individual gorilla really doesn’t have the latent potential to elevate its entire species into a new age through invention, innovation, or imagination. Can a gorilla change the course of its entire species through a simple shift in philosophy? Oh I’m sure we’ve seen some micro evolutions in that regard. Are there significant gorilla revolutions? Are gorillas able to fight the gorilla hierarchy and create seismic shifts in the gorilla power structure? Oh I’m sure a gorilla will fight the dominant gorilla for control of a particular group, but that’s clearly not what I’m getting at.

We are simply a definitively higher species than every other animal. We have the power position by a ridiculously large stretch. Still, there are ways to bend and shape those arguments into a stalemate if you’re one of those guys who thinks the trees and gnats are our equals and wants to be one with the desert muskrat or whatever pseudo philosophical hippy nonsense you subscribe to in order to convince yourself that you’re super duper deep and sooooooo in tune with the “universe” or some shit.

But… again… we’ve already established that you’re not saying they made the wrong decision in their choice of which life was more important to save and that you’re not presenting any real argument for why the gorilla should be treated equal to a human and that your take is nothing more than contrarian.