1) Veganism isn't solely about cruelty;

2) I find your debate that "structure/texture changing plant matter making sounds is the same as animal matter/brain feeling"... interesting.

> It might be much more cruel to harvest a field of soybeans than it is to kill a cow.

How? Unlike cows, soybeans are harvested at the end or near to the end of it's lifecycle.

Also huge amount of cows now require vast amounts of soybeans. So if you want to decrease harvesting of soybeans you need to first decrease farming of cows. So vegans are already in favor of decreasing soybean production.

Cavitation in a plant doesn’t mean it’s having a subjective experience much less one that I should care about more than, say, the experience of a dog being stepped on.

this comment says more about your confirmation bias and your ability to understand the information in the article than it does about the life choices of vegans