When people bring up controversial topics such as animal rights and abortion etc. a lot of people like to focus on the ‘fact’ that “killing is wrong”. But as a microbio major that makes me squirm because us as humans kill countless numbers of organisms on the daily. So I must ask, exactly how many organisms does the average human kill daily? Not limited to animals; try to include plants, microorganisms, internal and external. Must be in the billions?
It’s a really interesting question, but I suspect there’s ample scope for answers to be incorrect by several orders of magnitude.
Are we going to count discarded organisms as ‘killed’? - for example bacteria that get washed off or pooped out, then flushed away.
Any numbers you get for plants and animals will be insignificant compared to the numbers for microorganisms. Any estimates for this will be very approximate, and mostly concerned with how often you wash and what with. I used an antibiotic shower gel this morning, which under the the terms of the OP makes me a genocidal monster.
I think most people would agree there is a big difference between killing a sentient organism and one that is not.
I should add, your micro-genocidal potential will also greatly depend on what other cleaning products you use and how often.
The criteria a lot of people use is whether the creature can feel pain.
How does one define pain for the purposes of this topic?
Another one is whether or not we have a choice. I can choose not to eat a cow, but I can’t choose not to breathe (at least not without dying myself). I’m pretty sure that even the action of breathing brings about the demise of some micro organisms (at the very least, those I inhale and are dispatched by my immune system).
I’m not even sure that washing and cleaning are the major sources of death and destruction. Just imagine how many microorganisms are destroyed in a seething cauldron of sulfuric acid with every bite. Plenty of foods - such as yogurt - are intended to have live cultures.
None, I hope. Hydrochloric acid, maybe.
Oops. Yeah, I got my acids confused.
(Methinks dracoi needs one helluva Tums.)
I sprayed the shower with bleach over the weekend - how many mildew cells did I murder?
(While we’re making fun of me and acids… there was this incident in chemistry lab. I bumped a beaker off the edge of the counter. The professor jumps up and says “Everyone be careful - Dracoi dropped acid!” I have friends who are still laughing about that one.)
How about simple loss of habitat? Imagine how many more microorganisms would be around if all of our buildings were gone and replaced with good old fashioned dirt and disease-ridden wild creatures.