A leading bio-engineering firm will help solve both the overcrowding and food shortage problems of the future by introducing a revolutionary new product:
The Meat-vegetable!
Cows and other commonly eaten animals will be "grown" without their higher mental functions, meaning they will have no independent thoughts (as much as current day cows do anyway), no pain, not even the urge to eat or to move around. They will be fed intravenously and stored in warehouse-like structures, packed in (almost touching) because they will have no need for any sort of space.
Possible diseases will be controlled by keeping on hand a small group of real cows in the area, and taking genetic samples from them, ensuring diversity of the "cows" in the complex. In the case of some discription of cow plauge, genetic diversity will help check the spread through the entire crop.
Meat from these "animals" will be cheaper than natural grown ones, unfortuantely putting most small and medium scale ranches out of business.
This will drastically reduce the land requirements for breeding livestock and open up ex-ranches to become housing or crop-bearing land, increasing the population capacity of the US and feeding the masses cheaply.
And the most important ramification, of course, will be that those sicko vegitarians will no longer be able to use humanity to animals as a reason not to eat meat. By definition, that arguement can only apply to animals in the wild, ie ones that have enough mental function to register pain or inhumane treatment. Being inhumane to a meat-vegetable would be like being inhumane to a sponge:)
Slashdot Mirror
A leading bio-engineering firm will help solve both the overcrowding and food shortage problems of the future by introducing a revolutionary new product:
:)
The Meat-vegetable!
Cows and other commonly eaten animals will be "grown" without their higher mental functions, meaning they will have no independent thoughts (as much as current day cows do anyway), no pain, not even the urge to eat or to move around. They will be fed intravenously and stored in warehouse-like structures, packed in (almost touching) because they will have no need for any sort of space.
Possible diseases will be controlled by keeping on hand a small group of real cows in the area, and taking genetic samples from them, ensuring diversity of the "cows" in the complex. In the case of some discription of cow plauge, genetic diversity will help check the spread through the entire crop.
Meat from these "animals" will be cheaper than natural grown ones, unfortuantely putting most small and medium scale ranches out of business.
This will drastically reduce the land requirements for breeding livestock and open up ex-ranches to become housing or crop-bearing land, increasing the population capacity of the US and feeding the masses cheaply.
And the most important ramification, of course, will be that those sicko vegitarians will no longer be able to use humanity to animals as a reason not to eat meat. By definition, that arguement can only apply to animals in the wild, ie ones that have enough mental function to register pain or inhumane treatment. Being inhumane to a meat-vegetable would be like being inhumane to a sponge