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It’s fairly difficult not to kill them, you know, when you plan to eat them. If your Tolstoy quote is accurate, it seems fairly sloppy reasoning to me. Animal
by zaroth 9y ago
It’s fairly difficult not to kill them, you know, when you plan to eat them.
If your Tolstoy quote is accurate, it seems fairly sloppy reasoning to me. Animal protein is an essential component of nourishing billions of people. Calling sustenance “appetite” is a rhetorical flourish which undermines the argument.
I think what would be immoral is telling billions of people they can’t eat meat.
There are many ways one could prescribe humans should act to minimize their impact on the flora and fauna of our world. But at the same time, humans are entitled to a certain degree of leeway in this regard. Sustainably eating the plants and animals beneath us on the food chain is one of those areas.
- darkerside 9y ago> beneath us on the food chain This sounds... tautological. We can morally eat whatever we can eat? Does that include gorilla meat? Weaker humans?
- wallace_f 9y agoThe OP provides no justification, so in his mind, yes. And when AI develops, or a new race of genetically engineered humans, they can eat us, too. But I'm sure the OP wasn't thinking about being boiled alive when he made his comment.
- miles 9y ago> Animal protein is an essential component of nourishing billions of people It doesn't have to be; in fact, humans, animals, and the planet would be much better off in many ways were we to transition to plant-based diets: Go vegan, save the planet https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/08/opinions/go-vegan-save-the-planet-wang/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/08/opinions/go-vegan-save-the-pl... Five things would happen if everyone stopped eating meat http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/five-things-would-happen-if-everyone-stopped-eating-meat-a6844811.html http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/five-things-would-happen... What would happen if everyone went vegan? https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/what-would-world-look-if-everyone-went-vegan https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/what-would-world-loo... What the Health http://www.whatthehealthfilm.com http://www.whatthehealthfilm.com The Game Changers http://gamechangersmovie.com http://gamechangersmovie.com Cowspiracy http://www.cowspiracy.com http://www.cowspiracy.com
- lisper 9y agoBut lobsters are so much tastier than tofu. :-(
- microcolonel 9y agoThere are people who have averse reactions to almost every plant based food, and can largely only eat meat or suffer horrible mental and physical health problems. Diet is not one-size-fits all, and we have basically no idea how complex diet is, or the specific long term effects of most dietary interventions on people. It is absolutely reprehensible to represent going vegan as an obvious way forward when it is unclear that it's even safe for a large majority of people.
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- icebraining 9y agoCan you link to a description of that condition? It sounds fascinating.
- microcolonel 9y agoSeems to be unstudied, but this person[0] reports has both severe mental and physical reactions currently to almost anything other than meat, though she was able to eat some vegetables safely before. Her father has similar reactions to many plant-based foods, and they both have had serious disorders activated seemingly by diet, especially severe depression. In addition, many people are unable to eat yeast or yeast extracts, which are among the few commonly available non-flesh sources of the crucial vitamin B12. [0]: http://mikhailapeterson.com/2017/12/18/zero-carb-carnivore-diet/ http://mikhailapeterson.com/2017/12/18/zero-carb-carnivore-d...
- m_mueller 9y agoI‘m not convinced that killing plants is creating less suffering than killing simple animals like shrimps or insects for example. Listen to the latest radiolab episode for example. Given their capabilities I find it reasonable to assume that the level of consciousness is about the same (which includes the very likely possibility of them being not conscious at all). Point is, if you want to just reduce suffering while staying healthy (e.g. no iron / B12 deficiency) there may be better answers than just to restrict oneself to the one half of living creatures that happens to generate its own food from CO2.
- jdietrich 9y ago>humans are entitled to a certain degree of leeway in this regard. Sustainably eating the plants and animals beneath us on the food chain is one of those areas. If we ever come into contact with extraterrestrial life, I hope that they don't share this view.
- sildur 9y agoI hope they do, because we are going to eat them.