Value of Life: Human Life over Animal Life

Sorry for the misunderstanding about the topic. In that case, I will change the direction of my argument. For this argument, I want to answer my opponent's questions. My opponent asks, "1. Why is the life of a Human worth more? 2. Why is the life of an Animal worth less? 3. Comparing and Contrasting: Human Life vs Animal Life. 4. Animal Rights (Stated in the comments to add clarity to my argument)." My opponent says, "Are Humans superior in more aspects than other animals? Undoubtedly." We can both agree that human life is more superior. And as we all know, superior things are greater in importance. I'm not saying that animals are worthless, but they are simply less important. As for the reasons humans are superior, I posted that on my last argument. (If you would, take a moment to let me say something that saddens me. My opponent tries to point out fallacies when I made the points of why humans are superior to animals. It appears [notice what I am saying this based off my powers of observation, and I am NOT making simple assumptions] that based off of what my opponent says, he/she has not done much research on very recent space studies. I, however, have many of recent astronomy books [which, by the way, are AMAZING]. My opponent said, "Humans do not, and possibly will never know how the Universe yet, only create theories on how it works." That's very plausible, considering that I'm currently watching a series on Netflix called, 'How the Universe Works.' When I said humans knew how the universe worked, I simply meant that they knew way more than animals. But if you want to take it literally, the fact is that people have knowledge of our solar system, galaxies, galaxy clusters, different types of stars, black holes, stars that create black holes, etc. My opponent also says "E=MC^2 is not an explanation of how things work. Energy = Mass x Speed of Light^2 tells you how much energy there is inside a certain amount of mass. It does not tell you 'how things work.'" This formula actually does tell how things work. Nuclear bombs work because a certain amount of mass is being transformed into pure energy. This formula may also be the key to figuring out how the universe was created; the big bang. Many believe the big bang is the opposite of a nuclear bomb; instead of going form matter to energy, we would be going from pure energy to matter. So yes, it can tell how things work.) (My opponent says, "Space exploration is such a nice thing. However, we have not even visited Mars yet, let alone solar system, let alone left our galaxy, let alone universe." The human race has been around for only a million years, and in the history of Earth, that is a very short time compared to the billions of years the Earth has been around. In fact, we didn't even have electric technology until the past few centuries. Space exploration in the future is very hopeful. My opponent also states we haven't been to Mars yet. However the Curiosity rover, I believe, is on to something. [The false carbon compound does not count. Scientists did not really expect to find any in the simple sand, but will be heading the rover to Mount Sharp where they hope to find some.] Also, I read on the NASA website that in 2020, there will be another rover launch to Mars using the same plans as Curiosity but with better technology. In the next decade, NASA will be sending tons of things to Mars. Even now, NASA is working on packing for Mars, including how we'll get exercise, eat, breathe, etc. We are preparing for space exploration. Now, back to my point.) My opponent would also like to know why an animal's life is worth less. Isn't this the same as asking why a human's is worth more? However, if you would really like an answer, I will give you one. Animals eat, sleep, and die. Humans used to be the same way, until we gave our lives value. Humans created civilization. Humans created the possibility of getting themselves into the history book. Humans created things like lightbulbs and philosophical ideas. Humans have the power to think. And whether they do it for better of for worse, humans do still have the power to change the world. This is very unlikely for an animal to do in the near future. To answer the third question, animals are similar to humans in that they eat, drink, sleep, and reproduce. But like I said in the preceding paragraph, the biggest factor that separates humans from animals is that they have the power to think- beyond instinct. We are intelligent. And as for animal rights, I would like to include a quote from Tibor R. Machan, author of ' Putting Humans First: Why We Are Nature's Favorite.' "Animals other than human beings do not have basic rights. It is a matter of ethics and not of the laws of human societies that animals ought to be treated compassionately and kindly by people -- because people can empathize with their pain but not because they have rights as human beings do. If they had such rights, they would, among other things, have to be held accountable for killing or maiming fellow animals in the wilds." When people talk about sad things happening to animals, they are simply empathizing with their pain, as mentioned in the quote above. And once again, this only appeals to your emotions and ethics, and not to your mind. After all, in the wild, female spiders will eat their husbands. Should they get the death sentence for cannibalism or murder? Other animals will fight in order to attract a mate. Should they get charged with crime? When you think of it practically, giving animals rights makes no sense. Now, I turn the debate over to my opponent for the final argument to begin. Source: http://www.nytimes.com...