I remember walking by a bees' nest every day some 45 years ago. I imagine 100 other children encountered the bees nest as they walked home from school. The bees aggressively protected their home. I lost track of the number of times a bee stung me. I felt like I was at war with the bees.
Some people argue that "bugs" do not have feelings. Bugs are pests according to many people. Therefore, we hear the words "don't bug me."
I will arbitrarily assume that an individual insect has limited capacity to feel pain. Instead of looking at individual insects, we should look at the entire colony. We could look at the colony and say that the colony as a whole has a greater sense of agency than the individual insect.
Suppose we use insecticides to kill off half the colony. Although the individual insect did not feel much pain. The whole colony was imbalanced by the insecticide. Half of the colony suffered greatly. The other half must pick up the pieces of the devastation and move forward.
Some people argue that "bugs" do not have feelings. Bugs are pests according to many people. Therefore, we hear the words "don't bug me."
I will arbitrarily assume that an individual insect has limited capacity to feel pain. Instead of looking at individual insects, we should look at the entire colony. We could look at the colony and say that the colony as a whole has a greater sense of agency than the individual insect.
Suppose we use insecticides to kill off half the colony. Although the individual insect did not feel much pain. The whole colony was imbalanced by the insecticide. Half of the colony suffered greatly. The other half must pick up the pieces of the devastation and move forward.