Complexity Does Not Determine Worth

We chose an African elephant because African elephants are pretty “complex” animals. For example, they have more neurons than even adult humans. And yet, thankfully, most people agree that elephants don’t deserve more rights than infants. We’re not saying animals like African elephants are worthless. Animal abuse is wrong, and elephants should not be mistreated. We’re just saying animals don’t have the exact same moral status as humans. For example, it’s sometimes appropriate to test medical products on animals before humans.

“Complexity” isn’t what ultimately matters. Even among equally valuable adult humans, there’s some variation in “complexity”.