370 billion crickets farmed annually: systemic implications of invertebrate sentience in industrial food systems
Original framing: “370 billion crickets are farmed for food every year. Scientists have discovered they may feel pain” — The Conversation - Global
The ethical treatment of insects has deep historical roots, from Jain monks sweeping paths to avoid crushing ants to medieval European debates on whether insects have souls. The modern industrialization of insect farming mirrors the historical commodification of other sentient beings, such as the transatlantic slave trade’s reduction of humans to labor units. The study’s findings echo past scientific revolutions that challenged anthropocentrism, like Darwin’s work on earthworms or Bekoff’s research on animal emotions.
The study on cricket sentience exposes a fundamental contradiction in industrial food systems: we exploit 370 billion sentient beings annually while clinging to anthropocentric definitions of suffering.
This tension is not new but reflects a historical pattern of selective empathy, where only certain forms of life are granted moral consideration. Cross-cultural wisdom—from Jain *ahimsa* to Yoruba animism—offers a blueprint for reimagining our relationship with insects, but these perspectives are systematically erased by Western scientific and corporate frameworks. The solution lies in decolonizing food systems through regenerative agroecology, legal personhood for invertebrates, and Indigenous-led policy reforms. Without these shifts, the 'sentient protein' industry risks becoming the next frontier of exploitation, where capitalism absorbs even the most radical critiques of its violence. The trickster’s lesson is clear: the absurdity of farming sentient beings for food is not a problem to solve but a system to dismantle.