[extropy-chat] From soy & lentils to Soylent specials

[Emlyn]

On 20/08/05, Jeff Medina <analyticphilosophy at gmail.com> wrote:
> Now that scientists have methods to grow meat without growing a whole
> entity[*], re-opening meat eating to a number of vegetarians and
> vegans, is it only a matter of time before Ground Chuck is on the
> shelves next to Ground Jim?
> 
> The same technologies used to grow cruelty-free slabs of tasty
> pre-bacon-fied goodness can be used to grow Leg of Lucy or Jeffy
> Flakes. Since no human is harmed, it shouldn't be illegal -- although
> that doesn't mean it won't be. The yuck factor will likely remain
> strong when it comes to Buffalo Bill Wings, and one can readily
> imagine plenty of objections from the human dignity crowd.
> 
> I pass the buck to you, freethinking boundary-breakers. How long, if
> ever, until Mel's Diner has $9.99 Soylent specials? And would you be
> bold enough to take a taste, or is it just too gross? If it is, while
> non-human meat isn't, what are your thoughts on why?
> 
> At risk of sounding creepy, I'll be the first to admit that I'd try
> it. Heck, I'd even try some meat grown from my own cell samples;
> non-damaging self-cannibalism, now *that* is sounding surreal, perhaps
> more appropriate to a David Lunch film. Er, Lynch.
> 
> [*] When meat is not murder:
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5261870-103531,00.html
> 
> --
> Jeff Medina
> http://www.painfullyclear.com/
> 
> Community Director
> Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
> http://www.singinst.org/
> 
> Relationships & Community Fellow
> Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies
> http://www.ieet.org/
> 
> School of Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London
> http://www.bbk.ac.uk/phil/
> _______________________________________________
> extropy-chat mailing list
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo/extropy-chat
> 

I love this idea. One rational objection to it might be that it
weakens a cultural boundary (a taboo) that is better left in place
(against cannibalism). That's not a very strong objection, though,
especially given that the prevalence of vat-grown meat is likely to
give rise over time to an extremely strong taboo against eating meat
that comes from a real creature (anything that can suffer). That is, I
predict we'll see a mainstreaming of vegan ideals when most meat is
ideologically pure. So the taboo against cannibalism is no longer
necessary if there is a wider no-eating-sentients taboo.

So the only remaining rational objection is health. Is it unhealthy to
eat human flesh? Apparently you can get some nasty Prion diseases like
Kuru from eating human flesh:
http://wmaq-tvhealth.ip2m.com/index.cfm?pt=itemDetail&item_id=96805&site_cat_id=1
(mad cow disease is also such a disease it appears). 

But these seem to mostly be related to brain and nervous system
tissue, and also require that a dodgy protein be present in the
original tissue, which is then transmitted by ingestion. This is a
problem in cannibalistic societies because the disease is continually
transmitted (you eat infected flesh, you die, you are eaten), which is
clearly not going to be the case with vat grown meat as there is no
feedback loop.

All that is left is the yuck factor, which has no rational basis but
is nevertheless very real. We have been witnessing the strength it has
as a delaying force, although it does appear to eventually crumble
with no rational support. I guess we will have to wait and see how
strong it is in this case.

-- 
Emlyn

http://emlynoregan.com   * blogs * music * software *