“Most Animals Have Bad Lives” by Bentham’s Bulldog

Imagine waking up tomorrow in a world very different from our own. There is no society, nor do you have any friends or acquaintances. You must fend for yourself, acquiring your own food. Disease runs rampant. The world is filled with monsters that are trying to kill and eat you, often slowly over the course of many minutes. You’re constantly hungry, thirsty, and in discomfort from temperature extremes. Then, after about a week of this brutal existence, you die painfully—from starvation, being eaten alive, disease, thirst, or being crushed to death. Question: was your life worth living? Obvious answer: no! But this is the life that nearly every conscious animal on Earth will ever experience. For every human alive today, there are hundreds of millions of creatures consigned to this brief, brutal, and hellish existence. This is the life of nearly every animal, and it's why I’m generally in [...] --- First published: August 1st, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/8GaxX4TofwxF2gh5M/most-animals-have-bad-lives --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.