A fascinating (human) research study recently reviewed by Faunalytics confirms something many of us fighting to end animal experimentation have long suspected: 

The more someone glorifies “science”, the more willing they are to harm others for it.

Let that sink it.

Researchers conducted two behavioral experiments simulating Alzheimer’s research. In both, participants were asked to administer twelve increasingly toxic injections to a large goldfish (actually, and unbeknownst to participants, a robotic decoy). With each simulated injection, participants watched the fish’s odds of dying increase, and, by dose twelve, the fish’s death was guaranteed. 

In the first go, over 55% of the participants were willing to go all the way – administering all twelve injections and killing the fish. And if that isn’t horrifying enough: participants who gave more doses reported feeling more satisfied with the experiment. 

In the second trial, participants were split into two groups – one asked to reflect positively on science, the other critically – before performing the same experiment. The outcome? Those who praised science were significantly more likely to harm the fish even when he showed visible signs of distress. 

This is what happens when humans are taught to equate “science” with moral high ground.

The study found that humans with stronger pro-science attitudes are more likely to override any moral discomfort they feel about hurting animals when doing so is framed as scientific progress. 

They don’t just rationalize the violence – they often felt good about it.

This is the dark power of so-called “scientific authority”.

Underpinning this mindset is utilitarian theory – a framework that claims morality is a numbers game. If the “benefit” to humans outweighs the “cost” to nonhumans, then the torture, use, and killing of nonhumans is not just permitted; it’s justified.

Utilitarianism doesn’t ask whether we should exploit animals – it assumes we should, then crunches the numbers to figure out how and when. It cloaks itself in “rationality” but begins with lies: that nonhuman animals are inferior to humans, that nonhuman animals are expendable instruments for human use, and that it’s a matter of “us versus them”.

It asks the wrong questions. 

It protects the wrong interests. 

And it delivers the wrong answers – time and time again.

This is how “science” gets weaponized into ideology – one that rationalizes torture and suffering so long as the calculus ends up “above zero”. But the calculus is rigged. 

The benefits to humans are speculative, inflated, and almost never realized, while the harms to animals are downplayed, aggregated, discounted, and always realized.

And the ones doing the math? The very people who stand to gain professionally and financially from an “above zero” result.

Utilitarianism doesn’t serve morality – it serves power.

When humans revere “science” without questioning who defines it, who profits from it, and who pays the price for it, they become complicit in a system of institutionalized violence. 

A system that teaches humans to hurt and kill animals – and to feel good about it. 

To break the system, we must expose the beliefs that prop it up – including the shrouded but glaring lies it tells to survive.

Help expose the harmful beliefs that prop up the animal research industry. Share this story on Facebook, X, or Bluesky now.