I don’t find this plausible since I’m pretty committed to unitarianism (rejecting degrees of moral status), but here’s an interesting thought:
I find slower animals like turtles, sloths and snails pity-inducing (whether or not their movement speed reflects their subjective experience of time), I suppose because they seem more vulnerable and less capable. If vulnerability is an important factor in moral status, it could be the case that animals with slower subjective experiences of time deserve more weight, not less, all else equal.
Of course, being slower does have welfare implications besides how much an animal experiences; it has implications for what they experience. It’s worse riskier to be a turtle crossing a road or a snail crossing a walking path than a squirrel doing the same. Being slower also makes animals more vulnerable to predators.
I don’t find this plausible since I’m pretty committed to unitarianism (rejecting degrees of moral status), but here’s an interesting thought:
I find slower animals like turtles, sloths and snails pity-inducing (whether or not their movement speed reflects their subjective experience of time), I suppose because they seem more vulnerable and less capable. If vulnerability is an important factor in moral status, it could be the case that animals with slower subjective experiences of time deserve more weight, not less, all else equal.
Of course, being slower does have welfare implications besides how much an animal experiences; it has implications for what they experience. It’s worse riskier to be a turtle crossing a road or a snail crossing a walking path than a squirrel doing the same. Being slower also makes animals more vulnerable to predators.