Veganism

[AFTT47]

I am not vegan or even pure vegetarian but I have made a conscious effort to limit my meat intake and yes, it is at least 50% for moral reasons. There are unquestionable health benefits from limiting (but not completely eliminating) meat consumption but my initial motivation was moral. I'd estimate about 80% of my diet is non-meat and I would like it to be higher but I'm not perfect.

Interestingly, I don't expect this to be much of an issue in 20 years. Anyone who is interested can look up Tony Seba (a futurist with an amazing track record) and precision fermentation. The same process we now use to make insulin for diabetics will eventually allow us to grow meat and dairy products in the lab. I understand we can actually do it now but the cost is way beyond practical. That cost has fallen by a crazy factor (~10,000) over the last 20 years. It is projected to fall to the point where it is cheaper then conventional methods - and require one tenth the land and one tenth the fresh water. More importantly IMHO, almost zero animal suffering.

I know some of you just don't see animal suffering as a big deal. I have never been able to understand that because it couldn't be more obvious that more complex creatures like mammals feel emotions as well as pain and discomfort. I don't get not caring about that. Yes, the world is what it is. Life feeds on life and we have little power to change that - for now. That doesn't mean we have to like it though and we shouldn't take steps to minimize it.