Chapter 3: A thought experiment
It’s one thing to think about whether your actions align with your values.
It’s another to put yourself in the victim’s shoes.
To test your moral consistency, let’s try a little thought experiment…
Imagine an alien race coming to Earth.
They are more intelligent, more powerful, more advanced - and they decide to farm humans.
In this world, your baby is stolen from you shortly after birth.
The mother’s breast milk, meant for your child, is taken and packaged for their young instead.
You are left grieving, powerless, stripped of the most basic bond a parent has.
Would you find this acceptable?
Or you are confined in a cage, your movement restricted, your days filled with fear, discomfort, and waiting.
You have:
no choice
no freedom
no dignity
Would you call this fair?
Perhaps you are ‘lucky’ enough to be treated well for a while.
Yet before even reaching a fraction of your natural lifespan, the date of your execution - set long before you were born - arrives.
A bolt to your skull, your flesh butchered for their meals, your skin taken for their clothes.
Would you say this is humane?
Then you hear their reasoning.
To stop exploiting you would be inconvenient.
And, above all, they enjoy the taste of humans too much.
Would those excuses feel acceptable to you if you were the one in this position?