system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What's the moral ground/argument for caring about animal life but not insect life?

Any texts or schools of thought surrounding this? I'm familiar with animal right activism and their grounds, but I'm interested in knowing what response activists have towards insect life.

If killing a dog is cruel, why is killing a mosquito not?
gpt
Peter Singer, iirc, talks a little about this towards the beginning of Practical Ethics.  (he talks about molluscs rather than insects but the same principles can be applied).  
  
Basically, anything with a coplex brain, like a human, cow, dog, mouse etc, seems to have a capacity to suffer.  (others might render this as 'a capaity to feel good' or use both, the structure of the argument is basically the same).  Because of this, they hvae moral standing (we have moral reasons to care about them).   
  
Something that lacks sifficient neurological complexity to have these sorts of experiences lacks moral standing, and so killing mussels or ants for food is fine (and it might even be fine to just kill them out of convenience).  
  
Ofc, all this hinges on a) a story about the neurology of simple creatures, and b) certain theory-of-mind questions that might remain contentious.