There are two types of animals. First, those who live in the wilderness, and second, those who live as pets in the house. The first one is considered wild animals while the second is domesticated animals. However, being domesticated doesn't mean they are off the hook from the wok. So, what is the key factor that determines if an animal is for food or not?
To answer this question is to answer another question: Do these animals think like humans or do they think like wild animals?
In his research, Joey Lawsin formulated a theory known as "The Caveman in the Box Trilogy". This is a scientific model based on four basic scientific questions, namely:
1. How did information emerge into the early minds of the very first humans?
2. Who supplied our primitive ancestors with information?
3. Where did it originate? Where did it come from?
4. Was the source of information a who or a what? Was it god, space aliens, or something else?
The study was tested using three boxes. In the first box, a newborn son of a caveman was placed in isolation just after birth. In the second box, the newborn's father was placed from birth to adulthood. While in the third box, a dog was also isolated from birth to maturity.
In the first box, food, water, and everything that the child needs for his survival, growth, and development were provided technologically just like the natural sustenance acquired by a newborn inside the womb. The child was never allowed ever to see anyone or hear anything. He was totally isolated from the physical world from birth to adulthood.
In the second box - the box of the boy's father, the first human on earth was also placed in isolation from birth to adulthood. The only difference between his box and his son's box was that his box was the natural world, a place surrounded by living organisms like plants and animals.
In the third box, a four-legged creature was also isolated from birth to adulthood. He was in the same natural world as with the father. The only difference between his box and the caveman's father's box was that he is a dog — a lower life form.
From this experiment, the author concluded that:
(i) Information can only be acquired from one's surroundings.
(ii) Information can only be acquired in two ways: by choice or by chance.
(iii) Nature is the mother of all information.
(iv) Humans acquired information by copying other animals.
(v) Humans are great copiers or imitators.
People don't realize that when we humanize a pet like a dog, a cat, a bird, or a bear, we are actually raising a human being in an animal suit. This might be a strong statement, but this is a fact. Humans and animals might seems to be two different species, but when they live side by side with exactly the same surroundings, they become actually two similar objects, in terms of emotions, intelligence, behaviors, and health. When both are raised in the same controlled environment as our homes, humans and animals are emotionally, mentally, physically, and socially the same. How is this so?
Imagine that we are simultaneously raising in the same house two newborn beings: a puppy and a baby.
In this house, the baby is nurtured by the whole family: the mother, father, brothers, and sisters. Every day, she also sensed the dynamics of the house: she hears the sounds of her mother's calls, sees the contour of her mother's smile, feels the softness of her mother's touch, tastes the flatness of her mother's milk, and even smells the aroma of her mother's scent. She also reacts subconsciously to her home environment like the temperature of the room, the sounds from the television, the smells from the kitchen, and the noises from the whole family. All these sensational interactions that she gradually acquires come to her as pieces of information. They eventually settle down in her mind. From this house, a confined surrounding or environment is where all information begins. It is the primary source that molds the baby's totality, entireness, and her becoming a being, a human being.
Also, in the same house, the puppy is raised by the same people. He is also surrounded by the same dad, mom, and kids. The puppy also hears, smells, sees, and feels everyone and everything in the house. He also reacts to the temperature inside and outside the house, the sounds from the radio and television, the aroma from the kitchen, the taste of the food, and the synergies within the family. Just like with the baby, the same pieces of information are also stored in his brain. And from the same house, with everything being the same, the dog too becomes a being, a human being as well.
Thus, when love and care are provided to the baby, the same love and care are felt by the puppy. When both baby and puppy are placed in the same bed next to the owner, both species will also experience the same comfort, protection, and affection. What the baby sees, smells, feels, hears is what the puppy sees, smells feels, and hears as well. When they are placed in the garage overnight, both will also experience the same nastiness, coldness, loneliness, and anxieties. Whatever the situation is, both beings will identically undergo the same exact experiences. It is not because one is a puppy or a baby, but it is all because they were brought up in the same exact environment.
The environment makes who they are. It is where information comes from. It is a container, a source of information, storage of knowledge. When two species live in the same environment, both will definitely acquire the same exact information. Just like the baby and puppy, the information obtained by the baby will exactly be the same information gained by the puppy because they are identically surrounded by the same objects and people in the house. The information they gained from the house programmed them to be the same beings.
However, some might argue that the baby is totally different from the puppy because the brain of the child is more complex than the brain of the dog. Again, this is another misconception. Why? At some very early age, they come with the same "empty" brains. The brain doesn't come with information yet from birth. The information must be acquired, compared, codified, and transmitted first before it becomes communal knowledge. The brain follows this process of acquisition, association, codexation, and transmission to be fully functional. Thus, there is no big difference between a puppy's brain and a baby's brain.
I believe that all animals have the right to live. Just like humans, they have their own families, they have their own children, and they have the right to share space with us. However, there are two kinds of animals, the one that thinks like humans and the one that thinks like animals. For dinner, you are the judge!
"It is inhuman to humanize an animal. You might raise a kid in a cage."
~ Joey Lawsin
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