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Maybe that’s the solution. Is there some level of “living” things that has all the same qualities of a cow, but that we would feel comfortable raising and slaug
by wussboy 5y ago
Maybe that’s the solution. Is there some level of “living” things that has all the same qualities of a cow, but that we would feel comfortable raising and slaughtering in inhumane conditions? If not, what makes eating cultivated tissue better?
- mjevans 5y agoImagine an industrial life support system, I would venture our medical tech is either there or almost there for it. The hard part where I'd envision the greatest challenge is an artificial immune system that works in the tanks but absolutely won't harm people after the vat grown products are taken out of the loop. As a bonus this same type of technology could work for growing organs and any other biological part.
- newsbinator 5y agoIn Dune, they’re called Axlotl Tanks. One benefit I see is lab-grown meat won’t come with misfolded proteins. After we solve most bacteria and viruses, this’ll be the next thing you solve, and lab-grown meat probably solves it out of the box.
- pas 5y agoIsn't the typical solution for this is to isolate the vats? Eg just like chip fabs are kept clean.
- native_samples 5y agoYes and the article discusses this extensively. The problem is that it's very hard to achieve the necessary level of cleanliness. The article mentions needing to take apart, clean and re-assemble entire plants because some bacteria were hiding in small pits inside imperfect welds!
- pas 5y agoSimilar to how hard it is to clean MRSA or prions. Hot high pressure CO2 does it. (It's cheap, readily available everywhere. It's a process problem. It's hard to do it in hospitals in a safe and automated way because humans, but in a factory the pesky humans are not a problem.)
- hn_throwaway_99 5y agoYeah, I know the thought of semi brainless cows all hooked up to some machine, Matrix-style, may seem like a horror show to many, but from my perspective, it's the ethical thing to do. The primary reason I try to cut down on eating meat is from an animal rights perspective - I just can't grok the cognitive dissonance it takes to ooh and ahh over the cute, "human-like" reactions of, say, a cow getting a backscratch on r/aww, while simultaneously munching down on a burger. If I could eat meat from a creature that I knew felt no pain and basically had no higher emotions at all, I wouldn't have an ethical dilemma over it.
- fighterpilot 5y ago> semi brainless cows ... it's the ethical thing to do A second way to make it ethical in terms of animal suffering is to effectively start eating road kill. That is, you raise a farm of cows, treat them well, and eat them when they die naturally. A third way is to raise a farm of cows, anaesthetise them via their food when they're old enough, and kill them in their sleep. It's more debatable than the above but I believe it's ethical as long as it's done right (which it won't be, in practice). This all of course ignores GHG emissions and loss of biodiversity due to the need to produce large amounts of feed and large uses of land. But speaking strictly from the cow's perspective, I think it is ethical.
- hoseja 5y agoThe meat would probably be disgusting.
- netjiro 5y ago> when they die naturally. For many (most?) animals, predation or starvation is the "natural" way to die before actual old age would be an issue. Many suffer horribly towards actual old age death. I think this is a children's tale disney style myth we've grown up with. I would argue that slaughter is more "humane" if done right. But significantly better to not breed animals for food to begin with, if there is an alternative. Even if the alternative costs significantly more.
- petewailes 5y ago
- maximus-decimus 5y agoYes, it's called a cow.
- jrootabega 5y agoThe key is "inhumane". There are many people ok with farming and slaughter, but not in the conditions necessary to accomplish it at the current scale, convenience, and price the world consumes.
- maximus-decimus 5y agoI would be really surprised if none of those people had ethical problems with a Matrix-style farm of brain-dead cows too. It's like asking what they prefer between raising brain-dead children in vats vs raising like in the movie The Island. I'm not sure one dystopia is better than the other.
- telesilla 5y agoInsect protein is pretty good. I don't get why people are OK with the messy, cruel slaughter of pigs and cows who have family lives and friends, but eating insects, ugh?
- shinryuu 5y agoInsects. The meat would then be reprocessed into something different.
- dtech 5y agoInsect cells don't have the compounds that makes meat taste like meat.
- skocznymroczny 5y agoOn the other hand, meat doesn't really have much of a taste. It's more about the texture. If you forget to add spices to your meat, it tastes like nothing.
- Jensson 5y agoMeat tastes a lot, if you can't taste it then you have destroyed your taste buds with spices or something.
- dtech 5y agoEnglish is not my first language, with taste I meant to include flavor, texture, mouthfeel etc.
- vidarh 5y agoThat's a truly bizarre assertion. When I eat a good steak, I don't want spices on it, because I enjoy the taste of the meat. Different meats have a wide range of flavour.
- Darmody 5y agoThat's completely false. Even the most bland piece of meat has some taste. I understand you don't eat chicken breast without spices or some sauce but most pieces of meat are pretty good as they are, especially if it has some fat. Maybe if you grew up somewhere where spices are used a lot you can't enjoy food without them, but that doesn't make your comment true.
- fourtrees 5y ago