Cockroaches have a central nervous system (brain and nerves), peripheral nervous system (which connects the brain and spinal cord to the outside of the body and is what allows us to feel pain and other sensations). If they can physically suffer, can they psychologically suffer, too?
Humans tend to believe that our fellow earthlings are worthy of
compassion if we think they’re cute or beautiful. Puppies and
kittens push all the right buttons. Even some insects, like
butterflies and bumblebees, hit the proper notes.
But that is a poor standard for extending our compassion. That a
creature may lack subjective beauty doesn’t mean that they aren’t
worthy of our consideration. Take the cockroach, for example. They
don’t have soft features, fuzzy faces, or juvenile characteristics.
They tend to be associated with dirty places. And they’re routinely
killed without a moment’s hesitation.
In fact, we once went out to eat at a San Francisco vegan
restaurant. This particular restaurant had a small literature area
near the front door boasting of its “do no harm” philosophy. As the
waiter was taking our order, a little roach scurried across the
table. The waiter quickly smashed him. The “reverence for life”
philosophy, it seems, did not extend to the “lowly” cockroach. But
it did to my daughter, a pre-teen at the time, and vegan since
birth.
Riley started crying. More than crying, she was inconsolable. As
someone who was never raised with prejudice, never heard anyone say
“Ewww” rather than “let's help him,” and had never experienced the
impulse towards harm, she saw it as an atrocity; unthinkable. We
ended up leaving.
But was Riley’s reaction reasonable? Do cockroaches matter? The
answer to that question depends on whether or not they can suffer.
And we start with what the science shows.
We know that cockroaches can physically suffer. They have a central
nervous system (brain and nerves), peripheral nervous system (which
connects the brain and spinal cord to the outside of the body and is
what allows us to feel pain and other sensations), and sympathetic
nervous system (responsible for autonomic responses, such as the
fight or flight response). And if they can physically suffer, can
they psychologically suffer, too?
Yes. ...