3 ms·

> a weird aberration we will look back on in hundreds of years as completely insane I am hopeful that by then the concept of us eating animals will also be gon

by rlpb 7y ago

> a weird aberration we will look back on in hundreds of years as completely insane I am hopeful that by then the concept of us eating animals will also be gone by us synthesizing all our meat instead. At that point, everything to do with animal consumption and animal production for consumption will seem like a weird aberration; a mere blink of an eye that was part of the process of us transitioning from animals into a civilized intelligent species.

markstos 7y ago
"synthesizing meat" is transitional, coming from the mindset that meat is necessary. Once adaptation to eating plants happens, eating things which simulate animals can seem strange and cravings for animal meat and meat-like products may fade. If you don't enjoy the thought of a eating a slaughtered cow patty, eating a healthier, plant-based version of a slaughtered cow patty that looks and tastes roughly the same may still not be that appealing.
52-6F-62 7y ago
I would switch to a synthesized alternative tomorrow if we could figure out diet today. But it's still regularly promoted that the best way to see to a full diet is a natural diet along with any necessary supplementation because [from my limited memory] we don't have a full grasp on the complex interactions/delivery of nutrients. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/should-you-get-your-nutrients-from-food-or-from-supplements https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/should-you-ge... A predisposition to a B12 deficiency runs in my family. In other family members it's more severe than others (for instance a B12 shot has been not enough to bring my mother back from near physical collapse and has required emergency blood transfusions). I've often thought I had a handle on it—take a daily oral or sublingual tablet of 5000mcg (usually urinate most of it out pretty quickly) and added more red meat to my diet (per my doctor) but still I've noticed advancing effects occasionally. One more physically apparent one is slowly advancing Vitiligo—I'd had some spots for years but notice a new or expanding one every so often. It's a [physically] harmless symptom, mind. Worse are some of the others I experienced in my earlier years that persisted before I was diagnosed. I still have bouts where I thought I was looking after myself and those periods of sensation loss/global pins and needles, nausea. It can be frightening, and quality of life plummets. It's no joke. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitiligo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitiligo https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/vitamin-b12-deficiency-can-be-sneaky-harmful-201301105780 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/vitamin-b12-deficiency-c... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12_deficiency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12_deficiency So solve the diet thing and I'm on board. Until then, I think it's a bit of hubris. I'm sure there are other incremental improvements we can make until then, however.
YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago
Completely dissociating our lives from the natural processes that we evolved with for millenia and which we don't yet fully understand is very likely to create many more, and much more serious issues than it is supposed to address. Synthetic meat (or any kind of food) in particular sounds like a really awful idea. It sounds like some kind of progressive, rational choice but it is really only an extreme of the abuses of technology that make our lives miserable and drive people to seek a "natural" way of life (which never existed). If I may be so bold, that is not how we resolve the ethical issues of industrial meat production. It's how we turn into the Borg.

by rlpb 7y ago

markstos 7y ago

"synthesizing meat" is transitional, coming from the mindset that meat is necessary. Once adaptation to eating plants happens, eating things which simulate animals can seem strange and cravings for animal meat and meat-like products may fade. If you don't enjoy the thought of a eating a slaughtered cow patty, eating a healthier, plant-based version of a slaughtered cow patty that looks and tastes roughly the same may still not be that appealing.

52-6F-62 7y ago

I would switch to a synthesized alternative tomorrow if we could figure out diet today. But it's still regularly promoted that the best way to see to a full diet is a natural diet along with any necessary supplementation because [from my limited memory] we don't have a full grasp on the complex interactions/delivery of nutrients. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/should-you-get-your-nutrients-from-food-or-from-supplements https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/should-you-ge... A predisposition to a B12 deficiency runs in my family. In other family members it's more severe than others (for instance a B12 shot has been not enough to bring my mother back from near physical collapse and has required emergency blood transfusions). I've often thought I had a handle on it—take a daily oral or sublingual tablet of 5000mcg (usually urinate most of it out pretty quickly) and added more red meat to my diet (per my doctor) but still I've noticed advancing effects occasionally. One more physically apparent one is slowly advancing Vitiligo—I'd had some spots for years but notice a new or expanding one every so often. It's a [physically] harmless symptom, mind. Worse are some of the others I experienced in my earlier years that persisted before I was diagnosed. I still have bouts where I thought I was looking after myself and those periods of sensation loss/global pins and needles, nausea. It can be frightening, and quality of life plummets. It's no joke. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitiligo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitiligo https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/vitamin-b12-deficiency-can-be-sneaky-harmful-201301105780 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/vitamin-b12-deficiency-c... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12_deficiency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12_deficiency So solve the diet thing and I'm on board. Until then, I think it's a bit of hubris. I'm sure there are other incremental improvements we can make until then, however.

YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago

Completely dissociating our lives from the natural processes that we evolved with for millenia and which we don't yet fully understand is very likely to create many more, and much more serious issues than it is supposed to address. Synthetic meat (or any kind of food) in particular sounds like a really awful idea. It sounds like some kind of progressive, rational choice but it is really only an extreme of the abuses of technology that make our lives miserable and drive people to seek a "natural" way of life (which never existed). If I may be so bold, that is not how we resolve the ethical issues of industrial meat production. It's how we turn into the Borg.