There is a difference between animals and plants. That's a scientific fact.

The question isn't which is more valuable - it's: can they suffer?

The answer is yes - other animals suffer - just like us human animals. Plants don't suffer as they don't have pain receptor cells or a central nervous system.

Take your example of a potato and a cow. If you cut a potato in half - it lives on and you will have more potatoes if you let those pieces grow. I think you know what happens to a cow when it's cut in half.

Have you ever killed an animal? If so, how did it react? What did you feel while it was screaming for its life? What happens when you pick an apple or harvest nuts, legumes etc?

Another thought experiment. How do you think children would react to the following scenarios:

A) Cutting the throat of a baby sheep or pig, the blood gushing out and the animal screaming of pain - and the mother if she's nearby screaming as well because its baby is being slaughtered.

B) Cutting a carrot, apple, mango or other fruit / vegetable or crushing nuts.

There are various videos online showing how children react when they find out where meat comes from. They are shocked and cry - without even having to show them these graphic images. It's a sign that humans are not carnivores. Our mouths don't salivate when we see or smell blood, when we see intestines etc. quite the opposite - most people are disgusted by seeing all this stuff. That's why all this is hidden from us. We only see nice pieces of meat in the shops.

As per Carl Sagan's words - 'They (animals) are too much like us'.

The fact is - humans who are not hunter gatherers anymore or don't live in harsh environments, don't need meat to survive. Several government health organizations have already stated that humans can get adequate nutrition from plant-based foods alone.

Since you are here on HN, I'm assuming you are interested in tech. I'm assuming you appreciate a logical way of thinking.

What is more logical when it comes to feeding the world.

A) Consume foods that require FEWER resources and create less damage to our biosphere.

B) Consume foods that require MORE resources and slowly destroy our biosphere.

I'm not attacking your way of life. But we humans have given up previous practices that didn't make sense anymore, e.g. burning women alive because they were deemed 'witches'. Enslaving other humans, because they were deemed a lesser human. There are reports of farmers talking about how they've given up farming animals, as they realized 'there is somebody in there' - and transitioned to non animal farming. Just because something is a tradition, doesn't mean it's right. We humans evolve and so does our moral system.

Einstein talked about this 70 years ago - if we as a civilization want to survive, we can achieve this by 'widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.'

Future humans will equate what we are currently doing to animals the same way we find it morally reprehensible to enslave other humans. Even Star Trek envisioned this kind of future, where animals are not exploited anymore.

Like I said before, it would be great if the world could at least adopt the lifestyle you outlined, i.e. have a diet that's mostly plant-based. But as you already noted - the factory farm industry is trying to enter your world. And that's the problem - we need to eradicate this destructive industry.

A parting question:

If you can avoid cruelty, suffering and exploitation - why don't you?

Ignore all of the above, if you would die without eating meat.