If it’s acceptable for humans to exploit other animals for food, clothing, labor, entertainment or experiments because we’re more intelligent than them, would it be equally acceptable for a superintelligent alien race with 10x the mental capacity as humans to do the same to us?
There’s a species of monkey too large for any local birds to predate that still has a prey response whenever they hear a hawk cry. There used to be, but is long since extinct, a hawk that was large enough and did predate these monkeys. There’s an evolutionary fear of predation these animals carry even though they aren’t prey anymore. I would think it would be the same for livestock. Similarly, I used to have egg laying hens and a rooster to protect them. None had ever been attacked by a predator, but they all knew to run inside when they saw a big shadow fly overhead, and the rooster knew to call out and puff himself up. What I mean to say is as far as their “happiness” goes, the input from instinct vs input via knowledge isn’t really important. If the question is “how does the animal FEEL” then what it KNOWS only informs the feeling just as instinct does.