The Horror of Materialism

Wellebeck points out that we don't particularly like hate or have a moral condemnation of lower life forms. At worst we just sort of like treat them as vermin to be eradicated, he says. Even with the knowledge that we may be harming or tormenting a sentient being we don't really care because it's not human right? I can't imagine that they would care about us at all in the way that we care about ourselves according to Wellebeck. If there were contact with an alien species we would be more likely than anything else that they probably wouldn't have any special hostility toward us but I guess in a way I feel like I'm betraying like the ethos of