The behavioural cue of ‘flexible self-protection’ is a way to establish whether an animal feels pain, scientists say
Crickets that received the hot probe “overwhelmingly” directed their attention to the affected antenna – they groomed it more frequently, and tended to it over a longer period of time, he says. “They weren’t just agitated and flustered. They were directing their attention to the actual antennae that was hit with this hot probe.”
If the most powerful people in the world don’t have to care about the suffering they cause to hundreds of millions then I’m not going to be shamed into caring about insect’s supposed subjective experience of pain.
What sets us apart from the psychopaths is that we care about the pain we inflict on innocents, no matter how small.
shame? I would argue the embracing empathy part is more pertinent.