The question of what rights animals should enjoy is a vexatious one. Hundreds of millions of animals are put to death for human use each year. It can be argued that slowing down scientific research would retard discovery of antidotes to diseases such as cancer which kill humans and animals alike (……) What if super intelligent beings from Alpha Centuar landed on earth and decided to use us for their experiments, arguing that they could save far more of their and our lives by doing so?