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Deconstructing Slate's "Pepper" Series

Animal Person

For those who didn't read the five-part Slate series " Pepper, the stolen dog who changed American science " by Daniel Engber , I recommend it for the history, but also for the misconceptions and assumptions that you might want to discuss on the Facebook discussion about the series. Part II: Man Cuts Dog. Maybe on paper.

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From Today's New York Times

Animal Ethics

People who study pigs say they are as intelligent as a 3-year-old child, smarter even than the dogs we share our homes with. Would anyone in this day and age dare to say that we cannot presume to know a dog’s mind, that a dog cannot tell us if it is happy or sad, frustrated, lonely or bored? That sounds like a win-win to us.

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Introducing Myself

Animal Ethics

I had a strong interest in science because of its reliance on reason and skepticism, which struck me as very good tools for truth seeking (which is ultimately what I am interested in). When I came across Philosophy, I immediately saw that it was the tree from which the branch of science had grown.

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From Today's New York Times

Animal Ethics

22, 2009 The writer is professor emeritus at the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at California State University, Long Beach. He’s right: I don’t care deeply about the suffering of animals I eat, wear or otherwise benefit from. Suffering and injustice are inherent in life, and time is short. Lawrence S.

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Selling Birds Short: A Heretical View Of Avian Intelligence

10,000 Birds

And if you look into it enough, it presents a classic case where science can fail us. I believe in science. Science is based on logic and evidence, which I think is a very respectable way to look at the world. But what many people fail to realize, and too often scientists themselves, is that science is elastic.

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Forget About Equal, How About Alive

Animal Person

You may have seen "Dog," posted by Stephanie. When I saw " From Science, Plenty of Cows but Little Profit " this morning in the New York Times , I immediately thought of "Dog." We here in America claim we love dogs. If not, here it is. See the entire slide show, Happy Cows: Behind the Myth, here.).

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On "Imposing" Our Beliefs on Our Children

Animal Person

As far as atheism goes, I'd rather my child have a healthy skepticism that is fact driven and science driven. That she might suffer tremendously in her life, and that the Being With Ultimate Power is actually doing her a favor by making her suffer. By choosing her to suffer in the manner in which she suffers.

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