It's not clear to me whether dying by starvation is always worse than being eaten alive. Some modes of being alive are definitely horrifying but others would result in a fairly quick death...

> pretty much all animals normally die of starvation (if they're lucky) or are eaten alive

You don't have to be eaten alive. There are predators who will kill their prey before eating it. Cats are known for that.

That's also why cats "play" with their prey. They're not being sadistic; they're tiring it out so they can safely make a killing bite, so they can safely eat it. When your food can bite back, it behooves you to kill it first, so it can't hurt you. Which matters when your ancestors (and potentially you if you're feral) were both predator and prey.

when you are being bitten to death, it is difficult to discern if you are being eaten by biting or just bitten by biting. this point goes to GP

The methods of killing cephalopods for commercial fishing aren't exactly what I would consider humane. Generally they are asphyxiated, thrown into freezing brine, or simply clubbed to death. There is a also a process called "reversing the mantle" which I can't find much information on but it is reported to be one of the less humane ways and frankly just the name sounds pretty terrible. Ironically the most humane method, slicing the brain, is avoided because customers don't like blade marks specifically because they believe it indicates mistreatment.