Dolphins and Humans: Equals?

[Cyan]

why are then other animals allowed to be treated bad? they have rights too.

Thats why I feel the best cut-off point is when we can prove that they have complex abstract reasoning skills + communication.

We can't say that "you shouldnt squash a bug cus it has feelings" and then expect people to treat anyone any different.

Either we all agree we are biological killing machines designed to turn living creatures into poo, or, we create a tiered system of understanding the universe.

I say that animals that we can communicate with should be viewed with higher regard than those that we can not communicate with.

I dont know about anyone else but i prefer:

Most living and able to communicate
to
Least living and able to communicate

If you see me at a sinking of a cruiser, you can be sure i'll be more concerned with first, saving my self, and then saving anyone else i can and only then worrying about the pet gerbils.

I judge a creatures worth if I have no internal understanding of it in the following way.

"larger brain + more developement = higher priority for communication"

That is because in my opinion evolution has advanced since single-cellular organisms. I'll shed more tears for the participants here than I do for the microbes destroyed by my immune system.

EDIT: should said participants perish ofcourse, felt should clarify it.