Poll: Artificial Meat?

[bartholen_v1legacy]

If it was basically the same as real meat or better and less resources intensive to produce than farming sure, why not.

This.

I would go for artificial meat in a heartbeat if it met these conditions, not so much because of ethical implications, but because meat production is a massive strain on our planet. Having artificial, perfectly replicated meat just seems like a win-win scenario. We already have artificial flavours, why would artificial meat be that much different? Besides, what do we classify as artificial anyway? As something that doesn't grow in nature or something humans make by combining various materials? Hey, I guess bread is artificial then! Right now I'm sitting in an office, and the only thing I can see that isn't artificial or man-made is my own body and the trees outside. Almost everything in our lives is artificial, it's only the degree to which it's artificial that gets people up in a bunch.

 

[rcs619]

I've heard about scientists being able to create artificial meat, or in vitro meat, and it got me wondering what would happen if this became a mainsteam practice. Do you think we would have an ethical obligation to stop eating real meat (as in stop killing animals)? Would vegetarians/vegans be willing to eat artificial meat? What do you guys think?

Personally, I think it's silly that some people try to insist that there are no ethical issues with eating plants. Let's not forget that plants are alive too. They aren't just inanimate things that sometimes taste good. They live, they grow, they die, and according to some studies also feel pain and stress in a way. A different, alien sort of way compared to how animals do, but it is there. You gotta kill to eat, that's just the facts of life. If it not having a face, and not being able to make noise about being eaten makes you feel better, well do what works best for you. But don't talk about ethics when you're still killing another living thing to keep yourself alive

(Now if you want to get into the terrible conditions found at various factory-farms, that is an extremely worthwhile discussion to have I think. Livestock exist to be eaten, but even they deserve to retain a shred of dignity in the process, and a lot of the chemicals and sanitary conditions in those places can lead to some major consequences on the consumer end of things)

Either way, back on topic. The concept of artificial meat brings up a lot of interesting possibilities. I don't think it will ever replace real meat, and I don't think they'll ever get the taste 100% correct. There will always be a difference to those who know, and I feel like a decent amount of people would prefer to stick with the real deal. However, if they can make it close enough to the real thing, and cheap enough to mass produce, well that opens up a ton of options. You could use artificial meat to reduce the amount of livestock in use some (freeing up land and resources), or you could just use it to help feed the poor, the homeless and the needy (once the actual process is refined and up and running, this stuff should be dirt-cheap to pump out). The lack of a good source of protein is a really serious issue with underprivileged people, and synthetic meat could be a good way to bridge that gap and maybe bring in a higher standard of living overall.

And yes, the vegans can finally untie the knot they have in their undies about 'ethics' and enjoy a nice hamburger like normal people, I guess

 

[MHR]

Personally, I think it's silly that some people try to insist that there are no ethical issues with eating plants.

Anyone thinking for more than a half-minute knows this is bullshit.

Beat a plant, then beat your dog. Tell me which one screams loudest.

I swear....

 

[jklinders]

It's currently pretty prohibitively expensive both in energy and in tech. You can't get something from nothing after all. But the meat industry is one of the biggest culprits in greenhouse gas emissions and sooner or later that elephant is going to have to be acknowledged. If they can make it efficiently enough, I'll be all over that shit. We're a ways from that yet though.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

Provided it tastes just as good, costs about the same, is just as nutritious and doesn't have some even worse drawback, then sure, why wouldn't I? It's not like many people live anything close to an all natural diet anyway. How many of you right now are eating some kind of processed junkfood or drinking something equally artificial?

Honestly, despite me unashamedly eating meat and having no regrets, nor any intentions of becoming vegetarian/vegan, whenever the topic of vegetarianism/veganism comes up I find myself embarrassed by the stupid arguments put forth by people who I'm ostensibly on the same side as.
"But what will become of all those animals that are yet to be slaughtered?"
"But if it weren't for meat we wouldn't be here today, therefore it is perfectly moral, just like all the other past actions of our society ..."
"But what about all the poor carrots? They're living things too, so isn't vegetarianism just as bad?"

Christ, get some new arguments, because these ones are cringe-worthy and seem to be brought out every time.

On a coincidental side note, I'm off to buy a meat-lovers' pizza.

 

[MHR]

"But what will become of all those animals that are yet to be slaughtered?"
"But if it weren't for meat we wouldn't be here today, therefore it is perfectly moral, just like all the other past actions of our society ..."
"But what about all the poor carrots? They're living things too, so isn't vegetarianism just as bad?"

Christ, get some new arguments, because these ones are cringe-worthy and seem to be brought out every time.

Seriously, Every damn time.

Do people even realize how stupid they sound?

 

[rcs619]

Personally, I think it's silly that some people try to insist that there are no ethical issues with eating plants.

Anyone thinking for more than a half-minute knows this is bullshit.

Beat a plant, then beat your dog. Tell me which one screams loudest.

I swear....

Fish must be totally okay then too. They can't scream when you beat them. Oh wait... Quite a few vegetarians *do* skirt around the edges by still eating seafood. I actually completely concede this point

I'm just saying, the super self-righteous, obnoxious vegans that are like "I eat plants because I don't want to kill another living thing to sustain myself" are dumb. If you wanna talk about the crap that gets put in a lot of modern commercial meat, or the horrid conditions in factory farms, or that maybe we eat too much meat and everyone should have more plants in their diet, those are all totally legitimate points.

 

[Areloch]

So I can stop being a damn vegetarian and actually have a burger? YES please. I'd eat fake meat, I don't give a crap.

It might sound icky, but think about it. At the very least you know you're not eating a corpse. People will eat corpses just fine, but not some clean grown stuff? Grow up.

You're eating dead organic matter regardless of if you're vegan, vegetarian, meat or artificial-meat eater.

On topic, I'd probably eat both. As others said, what I buy at the time would be dependent on the taste, quality and price.

 

[Pyrian]

Putting aside emerging research into the systemic travel of prions beyond the nervous system, it is unfortunately a common misunderstanding that the BRAIN is the only infectious portion of the animal. ... Here's hoping that it's not a significant source of prion diseases, or that the suspected presence in the food supply was exaggerated.

Right, sort of. Eat a mad cow, and you can get it too, but mad cows only crop up where brains were in the feed. So, yeah, lab-grown celeb-meat could be contagious, if the celeb was already a brain eater. But that's true of any meat.

It was caused by cannibalism, but cannibalism isn't what causes it.

It seems to have been caused by eating brains, but seems to be transmissible afterwards.

Beat a plant, then beat your dog. Tell me which one screams loudest.

The one with lungs, of course. But just because you can't hear it, doesn't mean the plant doesn't "scream". Neighboring plants will "hear" it just fine.

http://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2014/04/29/307981803/plants-talk-plants-listen-here-s-how

 

[Yopaz]

Putting aside emerging research into the systemic travel of prions beyond the nervous system, it is unfortunately a common misunderstanding that the BRAIN is the only infectious portion of the animal. ... Here's hoping that it's not a significant source of prion diseases, or that the suspected presence in the food supply was exaggerated.

Right, sort of. Eat a mad cow, and you can get it too, but mad cows only crop up where brains were in the feed. So, yeah, lab-grown celeb-meat could be contagious, if the celeb was already a brain eater. But that's true of any meat.

It was caused by cannibalism, but cannibalism isn't what causes it.

It seems to have been caused by eating brains, but seems to be transmissible afterwards.

Beat a plant, then beat your dog. Tell me which one screams loudest.

The one with lungs, of course. But just because you can't hear it, doesn't mean the plant doesn't "scream". Neighboring plants will "hear" it just fine.

http://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2014/04/29/307981803/plants-talk-plants-listen-here-s-how

I mentioned that in my post. It was by grounding the central nervous system, either brain or bone marrow. Please don't quote me out of context.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Provided I like the taste and texture (and it isn't prohibitively expensive) I would stop eating real meat entirely.

 

[sageoftruth]

Until I've tried it, I can't say for sure.
I couldn't care less whether it's artificial or made from a dead animal.

If it's just as good as real meat, then I'm in.

 

[Pyrian]

I mentioned that in my post. It was by grounding the central nervous system, either brain or bone marrow. Please don't quote me out of context.

I think my chosen quote was properly representative of your post (which is to say confusing and contradictory, specifically because you're using "cause" alternately as proximate and ultimate without specifying which), which is a lot more than I can say for you quoting my entire post to respond to one section in the middle.

So. All known cases of spongiform encephalopathic prion disease involved eating central nervous systems - either as proximate or ultimate cause. Vat grown meat does not involve eating central nervous systems. Therefore, there is no reason to think it represents a heightened risk over normal meat, and may even reduce risk.

 

[Alarien]

Provided it tastes just as good, costs about the same, is just as nutritious and doesn't have some even worse drawback, then sure, why wouldn't I? It's not like many people live anything close to an all natural diet anyway. How many of you right now are eating some kind of processed junkfood or drinking something equally artificial?

Honestly, despite me unashamedly eating meat and having no regrets, nor any intentions of becoming vegetarian/vegan, whenever the topic of vegetarianism/veganism comes up I find myself embarrassed by the stupid arguments put forth by people who I'm ostensibly on the same side as.
"But what will become of all those animals that are yet to be slaughtered?"
"But if it weren't for meat we wouldn't be here today, therefore it is perfectly moral, just like all the other past actions of our society ..."
"But what about all the poor carrots? They're living things too, so isn't vegetarianism just as bad?"

Christ, get some new arguments, because these ones are cringe-worthy and seem to be brought out every time.

On a coincidental side note, I'm off to buy a meat-lovers' pizza.

I think the most important arguments against vegetarianism and veganism are the ones that counter their actual reason for becoming such in the first place. Namely, that vegetarianism (more correctly, veganism, in this case) is not, in fact, more healthy than an omnivorous diet and, in light of the fact that modern pesticides have a tendency to reduce the source of important vitamins like B12 (you can get that from bugs), it can actually lead to malnutrition. Also, the entire argument against killing/eating animals is absurd, considering the disastrous effects that agriculture itself has had on animals and ecosystems. Which would you guess has caused more animal extinctions? Hunters or farmers?

Also, having a child that interacts with other children, I see the effects of vegetarian or vegan children regularly. They are significantly behind in development. At 2 1/2 years old my daughter was more than a 1 1/2 years more developed than a 2 year old vegan acquaintance. That child was no more developed physically or mentally than a 1 year old. Where she appeared to be between the ages of 10-14 months and could barely form intelligible words (and was fat). My daughter, on the other hand, was thin, visibly well muscled, stood 9 inches taller and was coherently fluent in English. I see similar developmental retardation (meaning slow, don't get offended by proper use of words) in vegetarian Indian children at her school.

I have no problem with people who chose to be vegetarian or vegan. There are some perfectly acceptable reasons for choosing that, however, it is a choice that should be made with a full understanding of the risks/rewards and should never be forced onto someone that can't make that decision for themselves, like a child.

 

[TallanKhan]

It would depend on a myriad of factors including taste, texture, cost, resources required to produce it, nutritional value etc. If you could produce me a cut of steak where I couldn't tell the difference between real and artificial and it was comparable or better in terms of cost, nutrition etc. then sure why not.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

As long as it's nutritionally similar and culinarily similar to "real" meat, and has a price point nearly equal to or lower, I'd be all for it.

I don't oppose eating meat in anyway, but that's just efficient.

Most importantly, it's efficient in such a way that I get to eat stuff that's still meat-like. That's important to me.

 

[Namehere]

If artificially developed meat became both economically viable and palatable, then I have to assume everyone would be eating it, know it or not. The exception would be the gourmets of the world, whose food is gradually - along with everyone else's food given the lack of viable artificial meat at the moment - getting more and more expensive with each passing year.

If you consider the deforestation required for the western meat diet of cattle, and the expense in otherwise good farm land taken up by growing food for said cattle, many countries import meat. A decline in the production of, lets call it 'cattle' for convenience sake, would necessarily drive up the price of a commodity. You'd have whole populations eating nothing but 'developed meat,' and as indebted to those creating it as they presently are to people creating cattle. Most nations can not sustain the basics required for the large scale consumption of cattle. So obviously the price of grown vegetables would likely begin to decline given that we're growing less and less to feed those cattle in cattle producing countries and able to grow more and more of other necessary vegetables put towards human consumption directly.

For those who think that western/wealthy nations and their populations would look down on 'cattle' eating nations... you're nuts. You've forgotten who owned the deer in England, sure wasn't the peasants. The same people who own the businesses that produce artificial meat will consume Cattle until those individuals or cattle are extinct. Artificial meat is for the common person. And as unpleasant as the concept may be at first, artificial meat could help in efforts to combat global warming and ensure food security in the years to come.

 

[MHR]

I'm just saying

I'm just saying you've got to be really thick to think plants and animals are comparable here.

The idea behind fruit is that the plants NEED animals to eat them to spread the seeds ffs. There's no brain in plants, and no sense behind your ridiculous argument.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

No, hell no. I don't think I'd trust lab grown "meat" at all. I prefer my meat fresh off the hoof. Call it meet because it sure as hell ain't meat.

 

[Luminous_Umbra]

Depends on three answers to three questions:

Does it still taste at least as good as non-artificial meat?

Is it far more expensive than non-artificial meat?

Does it carry any dangerous risks (health, environment, etc.) from it being artificial?

If the answers are yes, no, and no, then I would switch to artificial meat in a heartbeat.