Meat eater calls out hypocrite vegan! Harvard debate.

so I mean you know I guess uh you know came here to Harvard Square you put your table on here yeah uh you know I mean do you think it's possible when you put your table down you might have squished like a couple ants or something when you do that do you lose any sleep over that hey everyone conversations about important issues are a great way of encouraging us to think about things differently and of learning new things which is something I'm very passionate about and is something which brings us on nicely to today's sponsor brilliant brilliant is a wonderful resource for learning all about maths data science and computer science in an interactive and engaging way meaning that you can meet your personal goals and learn new skills while having fun at the same time brilliant has thousands of lessons which are crafted by award-winning teachers researchers and professionals from places such as MIT and Google and they add new courses every single month for example they have a new course all about exploring and understanding large language models such as chat GPT which obviously couldn't be more timely or relevant brilliant is also suitable for all skill levels from beginner to Advanced meaning that you can dive in straight away and start learning no matter your previous experience and the flexible and intuitive workflow means that you can learn at your own pace and also in the way that's best for you even better still you can actually get started on brilliant for free for 30 days and you can get 20% off a premium subscription by going to brilliant.org Earthling Ed which is also the link that you can click in my description so let's get back to the debate at hand but a huge thank you to brilliant for sponsoring today's video hi Milo nice to meet you my name is Ed and yeah thank you very much I have a banner and I'm at Harvard University today with this banner and the banner says give me your best argument for not being vegan you've been kindly waiting which I appreciate you've now sat down so tell me what's your best argument um yeah yeah no that's a a great question so I mean you know I guess uh you know came here to Harvard Square you put your table on here yeah uh you know I mean do you think it's it's possible when you put your table down you might have squished like a couple ants or something yeah I mean it's unlikely um we do we do check before uh before looking for insects beforehand so it's unlikely so when you walk around on a given day um it's entirely possible you squash some ants or some insects some small bugs or whatever yeah yeah it is possible yeah it's it's it's impossible to be pure and to avoid all situations guess I mean I would say it's rather likely that you destroy at least some bugs some insects yeah yeah um I mean right yeah agreed and you also consume animal products as well I I do so when you do that do you lose any sleep over that like uh well no necessarily because for firstly I'm not necessarily aware of it but secondly ethical consideration could be different based on the scenario as well but based on the scenario so like what aspects of the scenario well I mean I guess if you view like an ant would you say that the the life of an ant morally which is killed um unconsciously and without intention do you think that ethically that's comparable to the the intentional slaughtering of an animal such as a cow I I don't think it's comparable but I don't think it's comparable not because it's not intentional I think it's not comparable because the ant's life is less valuable than say a cow's life or a dog's life or something like that so so you do acknowledge that there's like some some distinction to be made between how valuable the life of of some organism is absolutely based on their species all right so like where do you think that line stops like well I I think when we view food choices cuz obviously that's what we're primarily talking about um it's absolutely fine and and I think logical to create like some sort of gradient of moral worth you know and and I think a lot of that gradient is is based on things like sentience and and Consciousness and the capacity to experience but if I create this kind of gradient I have to go out of the edible foods that I have in front of me which of these food sources is least likely to be or is the least sentient is the least conscious is the least likely to experience and if I had the choice between cows chickens pigs lambs and plants plants are those which are at the bottom of this gradient in terms of edible food choices so morally that's the choice I have that contributes uh the least to harm and suffering with the food choices that I have so I think that gradient actually works in favor of veganism okay um yeah that's interesting so you you think so you you acknowledge there's a gradient you acknowledge there's different values based on how sentient or how how long living a species is whatever yeah I don't know I I just I think it's like funny to like take massive consideration of that that moral gradient like when we talk about what we eat but like you know you're not out here talking about uh um I mean you're not out here talking about where people choose to live um you don't talk about the products the hygiene products people use like any number of things that we do as people that's that's part ofan organisms in massive ways but but veganism isn't just about food it is also about things like toiletries and hygiene products and also clothing as well but food is by by and large the biggest contributor to these problems both environmentally but also um you know suffering perspective as well it's the thing that we partake in the most often we buy a jacket maybe once and it lasts us for a number of years but we eat food three times a day so in terms of the the the problems it causes food is by by and large the biggest in in terms of this conversation okay well why aren't you vegan uh so I mean I think I'm not vegan really for that reason um you know I I I I don't believe that an animal's life has as much value is a person's life doeses it have more value than a plant's life uh you know it depends like it does it there's you know what what would be worse for the environment me stepping on an anle or me cutting down a tree um it kind of depends on the comparison we're making sure but what about this comparison you buying plants in a supermarket or buying a cow in a supermarket yeah um it's a good question I would say a cow's life does probably have more value than than a I mean like you know I would if I go cut down a tree that I think that that would not be as bad as me senselessly shooting a dog for example absolutely absolutely so you eating plants is not as bad as you senselessly killing a cow or a pig but that's the thing I I don't I'm not sure I see it as senseless but uh I mean I I do see that yeah that that makes sense to me yeah that's that's primarily the reason I'm vegan that that in the nutshell is it so why aren't you vegan uh you know I don't know I think the uh I I I honestly think you know my nutrition or my I mean even my enjoyment as a life as a human is more valuable than an animal's life sure well when when you say that does that mean that we could do anything we want to an animal as long as we enjoy it yeah that's a great question um I I would I would say no no yeah so why is killing them okay if we enjoy it I don't know I mean I think like like one Predator a predator killing it its prey is like kind of a natural process um you know me going and like like I mean doing something vile to an animal for fun is not a natural process um no but but but at the same time um in in nature there are lots of things that animals do to one another that are that are aw that are awful and so I guess the question would be you know should we look to Nature to decide what we in a human context perceive to be right or wrong yeah no I mean that that's a great question you know I might say like you know what about when a cheatah goes and kills a a gazelle yeah you know you say what about when a cheetah rapes another cheetah like yeah exactly uh you know man I don't have a good answer to that do you think that cheetah should be moral Role Models no I I don't yeah well I'm glad about that yeah makes me feel safer around you that's be sure yeah yeah um so so why aren't you vegan yet man I I don't know um I I think the best answer I have for you is just that I I think that my yeah I mean I I don't know I think it's a natural process it's like part of my human instinct I think it's sort of what we're meant to do it's going into a supermarket and buying some steak part of your human instinct what human instinct is that fulan maybe not not necessarily buying the steak but consuming the steak certainly is do you kill animals yourself oh I do not no why not I mean there's there's no reason to right but it's part of your of your natural instinct no but it's your natural instinct isn't it that's that's actually maybe not a natural instinct but more a form of socialization you know it's it's it's a cultural Instinct based on how we've been raised you know I mean I would argue socialization is a pretty natural process but oh and deniably but I guess it's not like a biologically innate like um hunger or desire to do this thing it's just it's something we've been raised to do our bodies have like organs and mechanisms designed for us to digest and consume meat but but not exclusively and I guess that's the question that I would come back to from earlier which is can you get nutrition from plants like can you get the protein and suchar that you need from a plant-based diet uh I would say absolutely absolutely if you if you so choose yeah yeah so from a nutrition perspective that isn't a reason for you not to be vegan because you can still get the nutrition you need from plants so it's just enjoyment then right I I don't think you can get the nutrition to the same extent um you get you know I mean I think if you if you want to get the same protein that you would get from eating a chicken breast for example you would have to eat um pounds and pounds of plants uh it would be massive hassle what are you basing off of that that assumption uh I mean I'm I I think it's it's just kind of a fact that like it's pounds and pounds pounds and pound I mean that might be a little hyperbolic but like it it's uh my Ruttle was like I think it's kind of a normal thing for me to kill a cow you know for me to like go like mutilate a cow's face because that makes me happy would not be a normal thing it um but is what is normal what is moral yeah I mean that that's a great question um I mean we were talking about socialization earli I think what is moral is kind of defined by Society it's kind of a standard put forth by others so I mean I would say it here when I'm making this choice I would say it is moral but you're you're basing that based on cultural uh a cultural construct yeah I mean so it is possible we as a culture could like come to a point where it was considered wrong absolutely because morality changes within cultures um and so cultures change change as a part of that but you know when we think historically cultural things that were considered moral at certain times in history indeed areas around the world right now and not moral even though they're cultural so whilst our morals and values may predominantly come from cultural um standards and socialization that doesn't mean that our morals are are intrinsically tied to them and what I mean by that is we can create morals and values outside of what is socialized to us and as a consequence of that create a better Society through the changing and evolution of moral values does that did that make sense do you agree with that yeah yeah so just because eating animals is is cultural doesn't necessarily mean that it's moral um I yeah I mean that's a that's a fair statement based on what we agreed yeah sure so why aren't you vegan I don't know I think you you've got me in a corner man um I uh yeah I mean it's it's something to think about absolutely AB although all that said I can't say that I'm I'm probably going to change my ways um but yeah I it's it's certainly certainly something to think about thank you you're welcome I appreciate you stopping and look I I know we spent like 10 minutes together 15 minutes Max maybe and I'm not going to shift your entire worldview and change your entire Paradigm in this short space of time but the important thing is we do just think about it so just spend some time thinking about it and then also just Google protein plant you know protein and plants like what where can I get protein from in plants and then just find some recipes and just just give it a go you've got nothing to lose from try it but the positives are that you can reduce the the harm that your food choices cause and the environmental impact and you might even feel better for it at the end of the day as well from a personal perspective nothing to lose all right thank you I appre yeah you have a good day have a great day as well have a great life in fact thank you all the [Music] best

Channel: Earthling Ed

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Keywords: earthlinged, earthling ed, vegan, veganism, why, be, go, earthlings full movie, activism, ted talk on veganism, debate, argument, vegan vs, meat eater, farmer, reaction, shocked, shocking, outraged, upset, funny, fail, destroyed, response, heated, harvard, university, college, campus, debate table, change my mind, why is veganism, bad, unethical, unhealthy

Id: XNtU8a4RbZc

Length: 12min 24sec (744 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 30 2023