Live data from Hacker News

A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Kill Half a Million Sharks, Conservationists Warn

npr.org

91–100 of 118 posts

Re: A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Kill Half a Million Sharks, Conservationists Warn

#91

It’s more upsetting to know that over 2.7 million are killed for cosmetics. Humans truly know how to dispense misery on mass scale.

Tangential, but related to the surprise of finding out how shitty humans are to other species:

We slaughter 80 billion animals each year for food. On a planet of 7 billion humans, each year. Those animals only purpose is to be born, get fat, and get eaten by humans. Mostly in horrible conditions because it's cheap. We need to look into the mirror for more than just cosmetics industry.

https://ourworldindata.org/meat-production#number-of-animals...

Re: A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Kill Half a Million Sharks, Conservationists Warn

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let’s be a bit more pragmatic about it: what are the typical characteristics of the “loads of people” that would be dying? Here’s a hint: it’s not the young and healthy.

A society that does not protect the elderly and the sick is not a place where I want to live.

OP is advocating killing half a million sharks to save the sick and elderly as something that “shouldn’t even be up for debate.” A few of us happen to disagree.

Re: A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Kill Half a Million Sharks, Conservationists Warn

#93
post #53
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate? In what way? How would you proceed?

Use slightly more expensive other source of the same substance? It's like killing whales for oil just to burn it instead of using olive oil, or that stuff pumped from the ground and refined, or whatever. (as was done at various points in history) Kinda annoying how many people take this issue to mean "kill sharks or humans will die" when it's just about money.

> Use slightly more expensive other source of the same substance?

You're assuming money is the only issue here. If we throw money at the problem, will we be able to produce a similar solution on a similar schedule?

Re: A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Kill Half a Million Sharks, Conservationists Warn

#94
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On pure utilitarian grounds, sharks are all carnivores who kill thousands of other animals over their life in horrific, painful ways. That doesn’t mean that there’s not environmental reasons to justify shark conservation. But from the standpoint of animal suffering killing apex predators is almost certainly a net good.

Funny, I thought we are apex predators. Why do you want to kill all humans? /s seriously though, ecosystems are interdependent and predators have their place. I remember watching a documentary about white wolves on a remote isolated island keeping the local population of yaks and rabbits from eating the island clean. They are absolutely vital for that particular ecology. Similarly it is not our place to rank animals…

> Why do you want to kill all humans? /s

Well the sebaceous gland in human skin produces this organic compound called "squalene" and we want that to make vaccines and cosmetic creams. But we don't want to kill all humans: squalene production significantly slows after the age of 30, so its more about killing young humans. /s

Re: A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Kill Half a Million Sharks, Conservationists Warn

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But we only hear about it when less than 1/5 of that amount _might_ be sacrificed for human health. Stinks of agenda. Also, without context, is 500,000 a lot of sharks? How many exist in the wild? How many are needed to have a stable population? If we don't cull millions of sharks annually, what effect would that have? And what is "shark" in this context, anyway? There are dozens of fish species, at differing levels…

Mass-murdering sharks for cosmetics is unethical and evil. They feel the pain just like we do.

Why do people think that humanity collectively has the same concept of ethics? What is good and bad? You seem to think every human is on the same page of what life is

Re: A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Kill Half a Million Sharks, Conservationists Warn

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mass-murdering sharks for cosmetics is unethical and evil. They feel the pain just like we do.

Why do people think that humanity collectively has the same concept of ethics? What is good and bad? You seem to think every human is on the same page of what life is

Believing in moral absolutism is different from believe all people share your moral views.

Re: A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Kill Half a Million Sharks, Conservationists Warn

#97
post #91

It’s more upsetting to know that over 2.7 million are killed for cosmetics. Humans truly know how to dispense misery on mass scale.

Tangential, but related to the surprise of finding out how shitty humans are to other species: We slaughter 80 billion animals each year for food. On a planet of 7 billion humans, each year. Those animals only purpose is to be born, get fat, and get eaten by humans. Mostly in horrible conditions because it's cheap. We need to look into the mirror for more than just cosmetics industry. https://ourworldindata.org/meat-…

@yes_man, mammals capable of same emotions that humans have, are brought into this world just so that they can be stacked on top of each other in horrid conditions for 1/10th of their natural lifespan in order to be slaughtered and fed to a species that is dying of obesity anyways.

Re: A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Kill Half a Million Sharks, Conservationists Warn

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But we only hear about it when less than 1/5 of that amount _might_ be sacrificed for human health. Stinks of agenda. Also, without context, is 500,000 a lot of sharks? How many exist in the wild? How many are needed to have a stable population? If we don't cull millions of sharks annually, what effect would that have? And what is "shark" in this context, anyway? There are dozens of fish species, at differing levels…

Mass-murdering sharks for cosmetics is unethical and evil. They feel the pain just like we do.

It may come as a surprise that research seems to show that sharks don't feel pain.

"Snow and his co-workers concluded that elasmobranchs lack the neuronal machinery absolutely essential for the perception of pain."

http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/topics/s_pain.htm

Re: A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Kill Half a Million Sharks, Conservationists Warn

#99
post #91

It’s more upsetting to know that over 2.7 million are killed for cosmetics. Humans truly know how to dispense misery on mass scale.

Tangential, but related to the surprise of finding out how shitty humans are to other species: We slaughter 80 billion animals each year for food. On a planet of 7 billion humans, each year. Those animals only purpose is to be born, get fat, and get eaten by humans. Mostly in horrible conditions because it's cheap. We need to look into the mirror for more than just cosmetics industry. https://ourworldindata.org/meat-…

Invest in technology to reliably reproduce the polypeptides that we are using animals to grow.

Note, for consistency, you should be equally horrified at companies like Ynsect, which are growing trillions of living creatures to be eaten by billions of other creatures:

http://www.ynsect.com/en/

Re: A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Kill Half a Million Sharks, Conservationists Warn

#100
post #91

It’s more upsetting to know that over 2.7 million are killed for cosmetics. Humans truly know how to dispense misery on mass scale.

Tangential, but related to the surprise of finding out how shitty humans are to other species: We slaughter 80 billion animals each year for food. On a planet of 7 billion humans, each year. Those animals only purpose is to be born, get fat, and get eaten by humans. Mostly in horrible conditions because it's cheap. We need to look into the mirror for more than just cosmetics industry. https://ourworldindata.org/meat-…

Humans don't have a good track record of caring for each other, let alone other animals.
Post reply on HN