
industrial cows are treated mildly better because it is literally impossible for a cow to survive in the conditions chickens are kept in
You seem to be talking about material conditions. What concerns me more are the psychological conditions and I don’t believe there to be any difference in that respect.
Do you believe that the beef which enters a person’s body will be in some way less harmful, all else being equal, than chicken? Solely because of the absolute difference in the material conditions?
I differ completely.
Well there’s no psychological state when they’re dead :-)
Cows having more absolute space than chickens doesn’t imply that cows will have a better psychological state. What matters is how much space the animals have relative to how much space the animals need. I would expect farms to give animals precisely as little space as the farm can get away with, meaning the degree of suffering will be exactly at the point of maximum suffering while still surviving, for cows and chickens.
Regardless, I think there’s likely more harm to meat eaters due to the psychological impact of being slaughtered.
Generally, there’s no data on these issues so it’s all just opinion either way. Suffice it to say that to me, your position seems naive.