[extropy-chat] what is the upside / advantage of meat ?

[The Avantguardian]

--- Ensel Sharon <user at dhp.com> wrote:
> Great - this is the idea I was getting at.  You say
> "(eating meat) rewards
> it with greater reproductive success since eating
> meat in your youth makes
> you strong enough to escape predators, beat up your
> banana-eating rivals,
> and mate at an earlier age", and I don't know
> whether that is true or not,
> and that is essentially what I am trying to find
> out.

Although I did not mean for my statement to be
analyzed with scientific rigor, it is indeed true in
the sense that it is a well-reasoned opinion based on
my professional knowledge of biology and evolution. It
follows from several well-known facts.

First meat is a highly concentrated source of protein
and calories. Secondly well-nourished animals, human
or otherwise, reach sexual maturity faster and reach a
larger over-all size as compared to their
under-nourished counterparts. Thirdly artherosclerosis
and the other negative effects of too much cholesterol
generally strike adults well past their prime. 

Keep in mind however that it is still conjecture,
since I was not present for all human evolution to
keep tabs on who was eating meat and who wasn't.  
 
> Do you, in fact, agree with that statement you made,
> or was it just Devils
> Advocate ?  If you do agree with it, can you
> conjecture as to how that is
> possible ?  What is the basis of the benefits you
> speak of ?

Yes, I agree with what I said, albeit I said it in a
rather simplistic fashion trying to be colorful. And
while I do think it is true, it certainly is not the
whole truth as one cannot sum up the forces of natural
selection operating over millions of years into a few
sentences. There were and are numerous other factors
to consider:

1. While today, with our modern agricultural
techniques, we certainly have access to sufficient
quantities and varieties of edible vegetation (both
cereals and legumes are necessary to get all the
essential amino acids) to ensure adequate nutrition,
this was not always the case.

Strict vegetarianism for our pre-agricultural
ancestors was probably not a viable option. As hinted
at by Joseph and the others, we cannot digest
cellulose so we are very innefficient as strict
herbivores.

2. Our ancestors had to survive climates that made
vegetarianism impossible for hunter-gatherer
societies. For example, during the last ice age, it is
doubtful that there was adequate edible vegetation to
be foraged for vegetarians to have survived.

3. There is ample evidence to suggest that we ate meat
long before we actually became human. One of the more
enlightening avenues for you to pursue would be to
read up on the predatory behavior of chimpanzees as
this will shed some light on the origins of the human
penchant for meat. In chimps, it is an aphrodisiac
that male chimps give the females to "put them in the
mood" ;)

http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/24543/page/4

So to sum it all up in a nutshell: the "upside of
meat" is that it got our ancestors through some pretty
lean times, it was sexy, and those that would not
partake either starved or died of loneliness.

     

Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us 
with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." 

-Galileo Galilei

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