The ethics if factory farming

[Ben Davis]

The best option would be synthetic meat, real meat that is grown on a protein scaffold using stem cells. This would remove the need to kill animals and give the nutrition from meat.

This. As long as technology continues to improve, I see this as the way forward. Most likely, it would be cheaper and easier than current animal farming methods, removing the need to consider welfare.

Additionally, I think that current positions on the ethics of animal farming will be on of those things our descendants will look back on and consider inhumane. They may even laugh at our lack of sophistication.

[Cato]

Humans are omnivorous. Our bodies are designed to eat meat. While this is a bit creepy cattle can't survive without humans anymore. So why not let them be content and live natural lives before we eat them? It's not as ethical as hunting for meat, but it's preferable to packing them into small enclosed spaces.

I now can't get the image of the Chick-fil-A cows voluntarily running off to a Logan's Run style cow Carousel when they're ripe.

[KUSA]

That was a good movie. I need to watch it again. I wonder if it's on Netflix.

[bennyboy]

The best option would be synthetic meat, real meat that is grown on a protein scaffold using stem cells. This would remove the need to kill animals and give the nutrition from meat.

This. As long as technology continues to improve, I see this as the way forward. Most likely, it would be cheaper and easier than current animal farming methods, removing the need to consider welfare.

Additionally, I think that current positions on the ethics of animal farming will be on of those things our descendants will look back on and consider inhumane. They may even laugh at our lack of sophistication.

The problem is that even if it has cow DNA (-ish), it's more likely to be "meat" than meat.

[The Grand Nudger]

Additionally, I think that current positions on the ethics of animal farming will be on of those things our descendants will look back on and consider inhumane. They may even laugh at our lack of sophistication.

Which current positions? The pastured position or the feedlot? Livestock management always gets painted with such a wide brush in these threads. Pretty sure a guy like Joel Salatin would embarrass the shit out of anyone who wanted to give him guff about ethics.

[bennyboy]

Additionally, I think that current positions on the ethics of animal farming will be on of those things our descendants will look back on and consider inhumane. They may even laugh at our lack of sophistication.

Which current positions? The pastured position or the feedlot? Livestock management always gets painted with such a wide brush in these threads. Pretty sure a guy like Joel Salatin would embarrass the shit out of anyone who wanted to give him guff about ethics.

I love Joe Rogan's interviews, and this one is particularly interesting.

[The Grand Nudger]

3hrs long..gimme some highlights?
(lol, gotta admit, I can't stand Salatin as a person, or a persona - I find it difficult to listen to him talk at any length)

[Ben Davis]

Additionally, I think that current positions on the ethics of animal farming will be on of those things our descendants will look back on and consider inhumane. They may even laugh at our lack of sophistication.

Which current positions? The pastured position or the feedlot? Livestock management always gets painted with such a wide brush in these threads. Pretty sure a guy like Joel Salatin would embarrass the shit out of anyone who wanted to give him guff about ethics.

All current methods result in the same end - we have to kill a conscious animal for food. Once we can grow 'unconscious' meat-in-a-vat, we can completely remove the need for killing from the meat farming process. So I see it as only a matter of time before the paradigm changes and we consider the killing of animals for food as unjustified.

[bennyboy]

3hrs long..gimme some highlights?
(lol, gotta admit, I can't stand Salatin as a person, or a persona - I find it difficult to listen to him talk at any length)

Try this one. Rogan usually gets a good interesting conversation going.

[The Grand Nudger]

All current methods result in the same end - we have to kill a conscious animal for food. Once we can grow 'unconscious' meat-in-a-vat, we can completely remove the need for killing from the meat farming process. So I see it as only a matter of time before the paradigm changes and we consider the killing of animals for food as unjustified.

That's true, such is the situation with regards to biology on this planet. I don't know that meat in a vat will actually solve that problem - rather than shift it out of sight and out of mind. The fundamental issue with regards to food and death is that we require inputs from -somewhere- (food is just a system for storing and transferring energy, after all). Changing the middle step (cattle) won't necessarily alleviate any suffering or killing when viewed from a sufficient distance to see the system as a whole. The cows in question would probably sleep better at night, assuming that that's even possible, of course.

@Benny
Yeah, Rogan I can handle - it's just Salatin that grinds my gears (never fails- I'll be right there along with him and then he'll say something utterly and irreconcilably stupid - like all of us, obviously)....lol, no worries, was just a request.