this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2025
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Ethically, it is probably a holy grail. Plants are showing more and more signs of awareness within their environment. It seems all complex life basically is a vessel for a microbiome in recent research.
Since we're talking ethics, what if we could grow an entire animal, minus the brain. Would it be ethical to eat the meat?
I wouldn't say that plant and fungi responses to damage or reaction to stimuli counts as "awareness," but then again 20 years ago I would have said something similar about shellfish. There was a study that found arthropods and molluscs don't have a nervous system that feels pain or consciousness in the same way we understand it. Turns out that study was mostly wishful thinking, and those animals do indeed experience being butched and cooked alive, and it's far more humane to kill them swiftly if you're going to eat them.
So if I was wrong about that, I could be wrong about plants. But that brings me back to the brainless animal. Lab-grown "meat" is basically just protein fibers that resemble animal muscle and fat. There's no nervous system at all. But what if there was a partial nervous system? Like how much is too much? What would be the difference between a brainless cow and a plant?
Apologies if this has already been asked and answered.
I think it would be pretty horrible to grow a nervous system in lab grown meat. I agree about the shellfish. We aren't even sure the role our own nervous system plays in our thoughts. There have been all kinds of theories all the way down to that our gut flora influence the way we think. Many of those theories probably don't stray too far from fact. I don't mind consuming proteins but the idea that we could have created some form of life that feels pain for our consumption is some twilight zone black mirror horror.
I ahree with you, but devil's advocate, would it matter if you didn't have a brain? Like, we use novacaine to block the nerves between our teeth and our brain, and have no problem doing heinous things to exposed nerves. No pain, no sensation at all, no problem. So, if you were to grow an animal with no connection between the brain and the nerves, you would know for certain that the animal doesn't experience pain. Without a brain, it wouldn't experience fear or loss. Does a reflex response to damage count as suffering?
Damn. That's a great question. It definitely wouldn't bother me personally. The dentistry point has me all messed up. Might get back to you on this.