That’s ableist.

It’s fine if people come in to learn about it though, right? I think a lot of people like myself can’t get diagnosed for various reasons, or maybe they just have a loved one who has ADHD. I think it’s better to say that if you’re going to be ableist about it, you can keep your mouth shut.

I put the phrase in quotes to indicate the meaning of treating someone poorly. Treating animals poorly is not appropriate.

But my point is that animals should not be treated “like animals” either. They should be included in the social contract and afforded a basic minimum of respect and autonomy, not enslaved and exploited.

Why?

Isn’t similarly militant and self-righteous when someone feels this way about trans rights or abolishing slavery?

It is demonstrably true that life on a planet alters the conditions of the planet (which then alters the life, etc). Most glaring is the abundance of oxygen in our atmosphere. We don’t look for oxygen on other planets because oxygen is necessary for life; we look for oxygen because it’s unlikely to exist in high densities without life to produce it.

The sci-fi novel Death’s End by Cixin Liu (third in a series) further suggests that life alters the universe rather than just local systems, which was a fun idea. He’s a rather long-winded author, but he’s easy to forgive.

That said, this is the first time I’m hearing of the hypothesis by name, so I can’t be sure what all it says. A quick skim lines up with reality though.

Pretty much every mental diagnosis that exists is a case of something completely normal which presents in too extreme (or too muted) a fashion in the given individual. The criteria for diagnosis isn’t just whether you experience X, but whether X has a significant negative impact on your life.

I like the treadmill or walking outside.

I obviously can’t be sure about you, but in my case my tastes have crystallized pretty dramatically, and I’m now much harder to please than when I was younger.

One thing that has changed though, is that games in general tend to have much more detailed stories and dialog in a way that just wasn’t in the budget or storage space previously. Nothing annoys me more than having to watch a movie when I want to play a game or to jump through hoops just to get to the next chapter of a book. These are very different activities which require very different moods to enjoy.

I’m almost positive this is my problem, but my local health system won’t let me see a psychiatrist.

Holy shit, this guy is great. I wish he posted more.

Even if you can afford a doctor, I’m not sure I’d risk a US diagnosis these days, what with all the talk of being sent off to a pleasant farm where nothing bad will happen to you.

Am I a bad person for considering doing this to my partner’s computer without their knowledge or consent?

I can’t read relatable shit like this while knowing they refuse to even test me. -_-

I agree, but that argument doesn’t do anything for people who don’t really care about the animals’ suffering if it means they get to enjoy meat. They understand what they’re doing and have made the informed choice that they’re okay with the arrangement. If you want them to stop torturing animals you’re going to have to find them another way to get meat or you’re going to have to kill them.

I don’t really understand how you can think meat consumption is necessary for health and also be against lab-grown meat. Is there some other way you have in mind to address environmental and ethical concerns? It doesn’t really help to survive today if doing so means extinction later from climate change.

A quick search (meaning I did not dig into it because it’s very hard to read tables on mobile) shows that France has about one third the rate of veganism compared to the global population, and a quarter of the US rate. (I chose the US because they’re the poster child for obesity.) While they may be healthy, they’re still eating meat.

What if I told you beans don’t taste like pork ribs? I love beans, but these things are not substitutes for one another, and insisting they are isn’t going to make anyone become vegan.

This was extremely helpful to read, thank you.