It’s a urinal, I would hope it doesn’t have access to any poop to analyze.

The word theory is used differently in science to how it is in common speech. In science, a “theory” represents humanity’s best possible explanation for something given everything we know. For example, the theory of gravity gives a reason for why things are attracted to each other, namely the bending of spacetime.

Theories don’t become laws, either. Laws in science describe what happens, and theories describe how. To go back to gravity, the law of gravity is an equation that can tell you exactly how much two objects will be attracted to each other, but it can’t explain how that happens. That’s what the theory is for.

Hope this helps!

I’ll give it a shot anyways, to play devil’s advocate.

I only buy a vanishingly small percentage of the amount of meat produced by factory farms every year. So I feel the same percentage responsible for perpetuating that system, which isn’t nearly enough to keep me up at night.

🙋 I’ve hunted deer, gutted and skinned them myself too. The tenderloins are great sauteed, and the rest of the meat is good ground (just don’t cook it as long as hamburger, it’s more lean).

Consent certainly can be a factor in utilitarian analyses, but it depends on the philosopher how strongly it is weighted. I’m not a strict utilitarian myself; my original point was to show that the premise of the meme (and in general, public understanding of utilitarianism) focuses too much on an extreme, comically oversimplified view of utility analysis.

The violation of consent itself is another form of harm, as we see in cases of r***. The scenario you proposed would still be causing more harm than the voluntary method.

In most cases, the suffering caused by the harvesting can balance out or outweigh the good done to the transplantee because the unsanitary conditions can cause horrific infections in the victim, not to mention the potential loss of function due to lacking the organ. Also, that stolen organ will likely go on the black market and be sold to a rich person, increasing overall suffering by extending their life and thus their exploitation of the working class. Even from a utilitarian standpoint, voluntary organ donation is clearly preferable, and organ harvesting is just as bad as it is in other philosophical frameworks. Absurdly simplistic analyses like this are nothing but a strawman.