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'Soylent' Dawkins? Atheist Mulls 'Taboo Against Cannibalism' Ending as Lab-Grown Meat Improves

posted by martyb on Saturday March 10 2018, @03:04AM   
from the Newest-Entrée-at-Milliways?-Long-Pig-Bacon? dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

'Soylent' Dawkins? Atheist mulls 'taboo against cannibalism' ending as lab-grown meat improves

What if human meat is grown? Could we overcome our taboo against cannibalism?"
- @RichardDawkins - 6:15 AM - 3 Mar 2018

https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/969939225180364805
https://archive.fo/kSmgi

"Lab-grown 'clean' meat could be on sale by end of 2018, says producer"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/clean-meat-lab-grown-available-restaurants-2018-global-warming-greenhouse-emissions-a8236676.html

"'Soylent' Dawkins? Atheist mulls 'taboo against cannibalism' ending as lab-grown meat improves"
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/mar/6/richard-dawkins-mulls-taboo-against-cannibalism-en/

and:

https://www.nationalreview.com/blog/corner/richard-dawkins-eating-human-meat-cannibalism-taboo/

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Original Submission

• Natural dangers disappear in unnatural environment Natural dangers disappear in unnatural environment (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @02:06PM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @02:06PM (#650511)

  Cannibalism isn't exactly uncommon in the animal world. Technology could allow us to come full circle.

  Cannibalism in nature means exposing oneself to the full array of pathogens afflicting the one you eat; none of "we're different species!" protection whatsoever. The danger outweighs the gain except in the direst of circumstances (a probable early death from disease is still preferable to a certain immediate one from hunger).
  With the disease factor excised, meat is just meat.
  But having said that, once the novelty factor wears off, there is absolutely no reason synth-human meat would sell well on taste alone. The evolutional pressure has been all for DISpreferring same-species meat.

  Parent

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• Re:Natural dangers disappear in unnatural environm (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:28PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:28PM (#650585)

  In general, eating animals that eat other animals leads to that sort of problem. When it's humans it's even worse because humans generally have the same diseases that other humans can get. Plus, there's the issue of our agreement that if I kill you for food, I can reasonably expect that you won't either.

  Considering that the only way to know what man meat tastes like is to actually eat somebody, I fail to see how creating lab grown human meat for consumption makes any sense outside of a philosophical puzzle. I can see it being made for medicinal reasons like replacing damaged tissue, but for consumption I don't see why people would want to eat it badly enough to pay the production costs on what's likely at best a niche interest.

  Parent