True Blood, In-Vitro Meat, and Human Compassion

Recently I was watching HBO’s vampire series True Blood. This got me thinking: If a more powerful life form has developed a synthetic, cruelty-free way to feed themselves, then why can’t human beings? The parallel is not exact. Vampires must drink blood to survive. Human beings can live without consuming animal flesh. But for most, the craving for meat (and the social pressure to eat it) is too strong to resist.

I have been a vegetarian for 14 years with a short period about 3 years ago when I ate meat occasionally. During that time, I succumbed to social pressure and just didn’t think about what I was eating. I think most people would rather not think about it and because (in this culture) it is widely accepted as normal, most people just keep eating what they want.

A 2008 study showed that more meat was eaten worldwide last year that at any other time in history (not sure how long statistics have been kept on this). Meat is a luxury and as developing nations advance economically, more meat will be consumed (see India and China). This means, generally, more environmental problems from land degradation, animal waste and methane gas (cow farts).

When I first read about in-vitro meat production in the University of Chicago Alumni Magazine http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0906/features/future_fillet.shtml), I was repulsed. And although I would probably never eat it, if it reduces animal suffering and environmental degradation, then I am willing to lend my support.
Vampires (I assume) are not real and human beings are in the fortunate position to be the most powerful creatures on this planet. But what if we were not? Would we object to being breed and slaughtered for the consumption of another species? Would we not try to convince the “higher” species that they could synthesize human flesh?

For more information, see http://invitromeat.org/content/view/12/55/