5 ms·

I went vegan decades ago and these sorts of discussions always crack me up. I understand that for a lot of people (myself included at one time) giving up meat s

by issa 5y ago

I went vegan decades ago and these sorts of discussions always crack me up. I understand that for a lot of people (myself included at one time) giving up meat sounds absolutely impossible to imagine. But in reality, it is very simple. These days there are so many readily available plant-based products. There isn't really a NEED for lab-grown meat except in the sense that people think they need to eat meat. It might be a better plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising to deprogram people from that way of thinking.

caturopath 5y ago
I really doubt that is an effective way to spend the money, it might not be hard to go veg(an), but so far it's really hard to get people to go veg(an). Occasionally I hear animal welfare researchers and activists on the 80,000 Hours podcast report their actual modeling and computation where they seem consistently to come to the conclusion that changing minds is not an effective use of money and effort at the margin.
Nbox9 5y ago
Fellow vegan here. I’m torn on this topic. I personally would not be a customer of lab meat. However if someone is going to eat meat it’s much better for the environment if they eat lab grown meat. On the other hand, they are not experiencing the health benefits of eating a plant based diet. In the end, I’m neither in support or oppose to this research. I do wonder if the investment is better spend on Beyond or Impossible (which I am not a customer of either.)
- xdennis 5y ago
  It's not healthy to eat only plants. Stop spreading misinformation. They don't contain all the nutrients people need.
  - thehappypm 5y ago
    Source? There are millions of vegans out there, are they all malnourished?
    - issa 5y ago
      Exactly. As long as we are supplementing B12 (easily done) there are no other nutrients that we are short on. Here is a link to some vegan athletes and a snooker player. https://www.greatveganathletes.com/ https://www.greatveganathletes.com/
- issa 5y ago
  Yeah. We are definitely not the target market here.
XorNot 5y ago
From an environmental perspective, we actually do need to eat meat, just not the cow. Humans can't eat the only plants which can grow in marginal land areas, whereas goats and other hardy livestock can and then themselves be eaten by humans. So the optimal diet to feed the world sustainably, currently, includes animal protein. Pure vegan is a luxury choice under that model.
cycrutchfield 5y ago
That’s cool that it works for you, but it seems like it will be difficult to win over hearts and minds (and stomachs) with your smug sense of superiority oozing from every word.
- issa 5y ago
  It's actually not THAT difficult to win people over. At least slowly. In the past 20 years the USA has gone from less than 1% vegan to 6% vegan. I used to have to go to the hippie grocery store to get things like Soy Milk, now they are everywhere. Restaurants have vegan options, etc. It's a very slow revolution, but it is definitely taking place. It is unfortunate that it is hard to talk about (even in a discussion about lab-grown meat) without people being offended. Some people are more open minded about hearing it than others, and at this point I don't take it personally.
  - cycrutchfield 5y ago
    Yes, it is hard to proselytize your views when you talk down to everybody while doing it. Useful lesson for you to learn in life.
    - issa 5y ago
      The problem is that we are not having the same conversation. I am talking about torturing animals and you aren't. I'm not trying to talk down to you, but it's impossible for it to be seen any other way. Sometimes there is a right and a wrong.
      - cycrutchfield 5y ago
        You guys are worse than evangelical christians. It’s a religion to you, and any nonbeliever must be shown the light
        issa 5y ago
        The difference is that I am not asking you to take anything on faith. I am saying it is wrong to torture animals, and you (most likely) agree with me. Some people think it is fine to kill animals for food, but most people would not DIRECTLY treat animals the way our food production factories do. So there is a lot of mental gymnastics involved. But that's not the same as religion. You can go to a factory farm and see animals suffering. I absolutely understand why people are so resistant to being told that eating meat hurts animals. I wasn't born vegan, and I grew up eating the typical American diet and ignoring where my food came from.

by issa 5y ago

caturopath 5y ago

I really doubt that is an effective way to spend the money, it might not be hard to go veg(an), but so far it's really hard to get people to go veg(an). Occasionally I hear animal welfare researchers and activists on the 80,000 Hours podcast report their actual modeling and computation where they seem consistently to come to the conclusion that changing minds is not an effective use of money and effort at the margin.

Nbox9 5y ago

Fellow vegan here. I’m torn on this topic. I personally would not be a customer of lab meat. However if someone is going to eat meat it’s much better for the environment if they eat lab grown meat. On the other hand, they are not experiencing the health benefits of eating a plant based diet. In the end, I’m neither in support or oppose to this research. I do wonder if the investment is better spend on Beyond or Impossible (which I am not a customer of either.)

xdennis 5y ago
It's not healthy to eat only plants. Stop spreading misinformation. They don't contain all the nutrients people need.
- thehappypm 5y ago
  Source? There are millions of vegans out there, are they all malnourished?
  - issa 5y ago
    Exactly. As long as we are supplementing B12 (easily done) there are no other nutrients that we are short on. Here is a link to some vegan athletes and a snooker player. https://www.greatveganathletes.com/ https://www.greatveganathletes.com/
issa 5y ago
Yeah. We are definitely not the target market here.

XorNot 5y ago

From an environmental perspective, we actually do need to eat meat, just not the cow. Humans can't eat the only plants which can grow in marginal land areas, whereas goats and other hardy livestock can and then themselves be eaten by humans. So the optimal diet to feed the world sustainably, currently, includes animal protein. Pure vegan is a luxury choice under that model.

cycrutchfield 5y ago

That’s cool that it works for you, but it seems like it will be difficult to win over hearts and minds (and stomachs) with your smug sense of superiority oozing from every word.

issa 5y ago
It's actually not THAT difficult to win people over. At least slowly. In the past 20 years the USA has gone from less than 1% vegan to 6% vegan. I used to have to go to the hippie grocery store to get things like Soy Milk, now they are everywhere. Restaurants have vegan options, etc. It's a very slow revolution, but it is definitely taking place. It is unfortunate that it is hard to talk about (even in a discussion about lab-grown meat) without people being offended. Some people are more open minded about hearing it than others, and at this point I don't take it personally.
- cycrutchfield 5y ago
  Yes, it is hard to proselytize your views when you talk down to everybody while doing it. Useful lesson for you to learn in life.
  - issa 5y ago
    The problem is that we are not having the same conversation. I am talking about torturing animals and you aren't. I'm not trying to talk down to you, but it's impossible for it to be seen any other way. Sometimes there is a right and a wrong.
    - cycrutchfield 5y ago
      You guys are worse than evangelical christians. It’s a religion to you, and any nonbeliever must be shown the light
      - issa 5y ago
        The difference is that I am not asking you to take anything on faith. I am saying it is wrong to torture animals, and you (most likely) agree with me. Some people think it is fine to kill animals for food, but most people would not DIRECTLY treat animals the way our food production factories do. So there is a lot of mental gymnastics involved. But that's not the same as religion. You can go to a factory farm and see animals suffering. I absolutely understand why people are so resistant to being told that eating meat hurts animals. I wasn't born vegan, and I grew up eating the typical American diet and ignoring where my food came from.