Do you think the level of meat consumption in America is healthy for individuals? Do you think it’s healthy for the planet?
Meat is obviously healthy for individuals. We evolved to eat as much of it as we could get. Many nutrients seem to be very difficult to obtain in sufficient, bio-available form from an all-vegetable diet. I just suspect most observant vegans are substantially malnourished.
On the planet side of things, meat is an environmental disaster. The methane emissions are horrifying, as is the destruction of rainforest. Hopefully, lab-grown meat allows us to switch to an eco-friendly alternative.
How do you feel about factory farming? Would you pay twice as much money for meat raised in a less efficient (but “more natural”) way?
Factory farming is necessary to continue to feed the world. I don’t care about “natural”, but I’d pay extra for food from animals that had been genetically engineered to be happy and extremely stupid/near-comatose, to reduce total suffering-per-calorie. This would be more effective and less costly than switching to free-range.
Are there any animals you would (without significantly changing your mind) never say it was okay to hunt/farm and eat? If so, what distinguishes these animals from the animals which are currently being hunted/farmed?
Great apes. cetaceans, and a few birds. The range of animal intelligence is extremely broad. I find it extremely unlikely that chickens have anything recognizable as a human-like perception of the world. I think the odds are better than not that dolphins, chimps, and parrots do.
If you’re interested, the animal I’m most on the fence about is pigs.
If all your friends were vegetarians, and you had to go out of your way to find meat in a similar way to how vegans must go out of their way right now, do you think you’d still be an omnivore?
Yes. I cook most of my own meals, and my meat consumption would continue even in the absence of social eating.
For Vegetarians:
If there was a way to grow meat in a lab that was indistinguishable from normal meat, and the lab-meat had never been connected to a brain, do you expect you would eat it? Why/why not?
I obviously no moral problem with that. That would be fantastic. However, I probably wouldn’t eat the lab meat. I find the texture / mouth-feel of most meat pretty gross, and lab-grown meat would be significantly more expensive than my current diet. Since microbiome acclimation means that resuming eating meat could make me very sick for a while, I’m not sure I see the profit in it.
I am very interested in synthetic milk, cheese, and eggs, however.
Indigenous hunter gatherers across the world get around 30 percent of their annual calories from meat. Chimpanzees, our closest non-human relatives, eat meat. There are arguments that humans evolved to eat meat and that it’s natural to do so. Would you disagree? Elaborate.
Obviously, humans evolved to be omnivorous. However, the paleo people are lunatics if they think we ate as much meat as they do (much less of the hyper-fatty livestock we’ve bred over the last couple of millenia). Meat was a most likely a rare supplement to the largely-vegetarian diets of ancestral peoples.
Regardless, none of this is the point. Today, it’s perfectly possible to eat a vegan diet and be healthy (see: Soylent). You can’t avoid the obvious moral horror of eating the flesh of semi-sentient animals like pigs by shouting the word ‘natural’ and running away.
Do you think it’s any of your business what other people eat? Have you ever tried (more than just suggesting it or leading by example) to get someone to become a vegetarian or vegan?
Only if they bring it up first. I do think we have a moral obligation to try to reduce animal suffering, but harassing my friends isn’t actually helping the cause in any way, and might be hurting. I do try to corrupt my meat-eating friends who are having seconds thoughts about it, but, you know, in a friendly way.
What do you think is the primary health risk of eating meat (if any)?
Parasites probably. Meat in moderation clearly isn’t especially bad for you. It’s just, you know, wrong.
Yikes. If all responses are this good, I’m sure the judges will have a rough time! Thanks so much for your words.
At some point you’ll need to PM me with a description of your actual beliefs so I can give feedback to the judges and see how you do.
For Omnivores:
Do you think the level of meat consumption in America is healthy for individuals? Do you think it’s healthy for the planet?
Meat is obviously healthy for individuals. We evolved to eat as much of it as we could get. Many nutrients seem to be very difficult to obtain in sufficient, bio-available form from an all-vegetable diet. I just suspect most observant vegans are substantially malnourished.
On the planet side of things, meat is an environmental disaster. The methane emissions are horrifying, as is the destruction of rainforest. Hopefully, lab-grown meat allows us to switch to an eco-friendly alternative.
How do you feel about factory farming? Would you pay twice as much money for meat raised in a less efficient (but “more natural”) way?
Factory farming is necessary to continue to feed the world. I don’t care about “natural”, but I’d pay extra for food from animals that had been genetically engineered to be happy and extremely stupid/near-comatose, to reduce total suffering-per-calorie. This would be more effective and less costly than switching to free-range.
Are there any animals you would (without significantly changing your mind) never say it was okay to hunt/farm and eat? If so, what distinguishes these animals from the animals which are currently being hunted/farmed?
Great apes. cetaceans, and a few birds. The range of animal intelligence is extremely broad. I find it extremely unlikely that chickens have anything recognizable as a human-like perception of the world. I think the odds are better than not that dolphins, chimps, and parrots do.
If you’re interested, the animal I’m most on the fence about is pigs.
If all your friends were vegetarians, and you had to go out of your way to find meat in a similar way to how vegans must go out of their way right now, do you think you’d still be an omnivore?
Yes. I cook most of my own meals, and my meat consumption would continue even in the absence of social eating.
For Vegetarians:
If there was a way to grow meat in a lab that was indistinguishable from normal meat, and the lab-meat had never been connected to a brain, do you expect you would eat it? Why/why not?
I obviously no moral problem with that. That would be fantastic. However, I probably wouldn’t eat the lab meat. I find the texture / mouth-feel of most meat pretty gross, and lab-grown meat would be significantly more expensive than my current diet. Since microbiome acclimation means that resuming eating meat could make me very sick for a while, I’m not sure I see the profit in it.
I am very interested in synthetic milk, cheese, and eggs, however.
Indigenous hunter gatherers across the world get around 30 percent of their annual calories from meat. Chimpanzees, our closest non-human relatives, eat meat. There are arguments that humans evolved to eat meat and that it’s natural to do so. Would you disagree? Elaborate.
Obviously, humans evolved to be omnivorous. However, the paleo people are lunatics if they think we ate as much meat as they do (much less of the hyper-fatty livestock we’ve bred over the last couple of millenia). Meat was a most likely a rare supplement to the largely-vegetarian diets of ancestral peoples.
Regardless, none of this is the point. Today, it’s perfectly possible to eat a vegan diet and be healthy (see: Soylent). You can’t avoid the obvious moral horror of eating the flesh of semi-sentient animals like pigs by shouting the word ‘natural’ and running away.
Do you think it’s any of your business what other people eat? Have you ever tried (more than just suggesting it or leading by example) to get someone to become a vegetarian or vegan?
Only if they bring it up first. I do think we have a moral obligation to try to reduce animal suffering, but harassing my friends isn’t actually helping the cause in any way, and might be hurting. I do try to corrupt my meat-eating friends who are having seconds thoughts about it, but, you know, in a friendly way.
What do you think is the primary health risk of eating meat (if any)?
Parasites probably. Meat in moderation clearly isn’t especially bad for you. It’s just, you know, wrong.
Yikes. If all responses are this good, I’m sure the judges will have a rough time! Thanks so much for your words. At some point you’ll need to PM me with a description of your actual beliefs so I can give feedback to the judges and see how you do.
Really, I think it’s pretty obvious which side AndreInfante is on. I can PM you if you’re interested.
They already did. I encourage you to make your prediction, however (the full judging round will start on Monday or Tuesday depending on my schedule).