Have you ever considered humans as cattle?

One could say our sentience.
But a lot of animals in our zoos , mostly other primates, are sentient as well, so that argument falls apart.
If one really thinks about it there is no non-anthropocentric reason why it would be more wrong for other beings enslaving us than it is for us to enslave other sentient animals.

At my local night club definately. Girls wearing skimpy outfits parading around the dance floor whilst men watch on from the sidelines exchanging money with their mates on who can get the blonde one saying look at the rack on that one!

Hell, we are!! The matrix is real!! The machines are just farming us…like cattle!!!!

Well, we have free will. We are capable of planning ahead, drastically changing our environment to suit our needs and producing works of art. Humans can, at times, defy the laws of nature by being selfless, helping those that can’t help themselves, be charitable and generally do things that have no positive effect on our individual survival. We can think critically, analyze, make conclusions based on previous evidence, think about the meaning of life and change our minds

Any animal that can do these things has certain rights (another creation of ours) and should not be used as a mere resource.

Only when watching Stargate Atlantis.

Cattle refers to domesticated animals. If the

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoo_hypothesis

is true, I would consider us humans as “wild animals” with the aliens enjoying the safari. Us being cattle mean they milk us or feed on us.

Because we aren’t dumb enough to stay behind a fence and wait for slaughter.. unless you consider earth the fence and they just haven’t slaughtered us yet.

The only comparison between humans and cattle for me was boot camp. Both times, I felt like I was some sort of herded animal.

Well, I worked at a company once, where many referred to HR as to the ‘department of Human Livestock Management’.

If there are other species than our own, “out there”, that view us as cattle, we would need one quality I do not see, yet: “usefulness for them”. Furthermore would they need to be more powerful or conniving than we are. That is what I see as the only justification we have over our cattle.

If these aliens would show some humanity, they should also care for us properly, I feel. But even we humans have still a lot to develop there.

However… thinking of it… we might be the livestock of various types of viruses. I certainly felt that way, last week. :-(

@mattbrowne – Most humans are not wild animals (at least, most of the time, <wink>). We had to domesticate ourselves first before domesticating anything else, including plant and animal species. When species are domesticated, they lose a lot of their wild features – and so have we.

@derekpaperscissors – Humans as cattle has been the subject of numerous sci-fi plots. “The Farm” by Piers Anthony (from Anthonology) comes to mind off the top of the head. Also, the TV series V.

I was the last class to register at University of Wisconsin Madison where they made us run across the stock pavilion like cattle to our waiting tables to get our information even though the place was huge and could take the lines. That was a cool and unique experience.

I know slayer does
Forced in like cattle you run
Stripped of your life’s worth
Human mice for the Angel of Death
Four hundred thousand more to die!

Slavery is still a vast worldwide phenomenon. Sexual slavery gets all the press, but slavery in every form, including people having their organs harvested for the financial gain of others, is commonplace. Human beings are indiscriminate plunderers, and they don’t except their own species.

@sakura LOL – you think maybe steer do the same thing?

“Hey, check out the udder on that baby!”

humans are sheep, not because we are the domesticated livestock of other beings, but because of their behavior.

Read The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. His prediction for the future is pretty grim in terms of people as cattle.

@PapaLeo steers are bulls with their testicles removed. Steers don’t pay attention to udders because, well, with no nuts, what’s the point?

@evelyns_pet_zebra

Milk?

@evelyns_pet_zebra Thank you. I thought to myself “what is a male cow?” and “Steer” was the first word that came to mind. I was too lazy to Google it for sure.

Remember Twilight Zone? “To Serve Man” It’s a cookbook!

As much as we think therefore we are.

Most people are still just a bunch of sheep.

Whether or not the creatures mind.

I do not think a cow, if it had judgement to know the difference, would choose to live in “the wild”. It’s a fair deal.

If we keep animals in conditions that are not as good as or better than what they would have on their own, no, it is unjustified. But again, I’d say self-awareness is a real issue.

Every time I’m in Times Square

I felt that way in high school.

We don’t make good meat producers. Aliens would be better off taking our cattle for cattle.

Rush hour traffic – cattle drives
Black Friday – stampedes
Fast food – eating whatever is closest/easiest and having no idea what it is
Yea.

Popular Science raised the question.

If we reproduce “human Flesh” in the labs. Then eat it.
Would it still be cannibalism?

@ChazMaz Did the original cell (that will be used for reproduction) come from a human? Then yes, but no one said cannibalism is the worst thing ever. It’s taboo sure but not in all cultures.

“Did the original cell” Yes, it would have to. At least that is how it is done today.

@ChazMaz Then some can consider it cannibalism – others won’t.

I guess if you avoid eating the original cell?

I watched a lot of Reading Rainbow as a kid, and the one where LeVar Burton visits the dairy farm stuck in memory. There’s one scene where they’re feeding the cows, dumping ground-up plant matter into a long trough from a truck. The cows all line up along the trough, waiting. And one by one, as the feed truck passes them, they moo and bow their heads and gorp away.

Fifteen years later, I noticed the exact same behavior among my customers when I present them with fresh chicken: they cluck and chatter about the birds, before leaning over to collect the most perfectest chicken evar, and while most of them don’t try to eat it then and there, you know that’s what they’re thinking of.

So while I have never considered humans to be anything like cattle, I can certainly understand how the comparison may be made.