We should make a brainless meat animal GMO

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Medium_War6594@reddit

Maybe after 20-40 years of studying to see if there's are any health issues.

Doctors used to encourage smoking cigarettes for stress.

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Idk, maybe we should just go back to hunting. I started this year and one $40 deer tag got me way more meat than the grocery store. And the money goes back into conservation. If everyone hunted maybe that could fund rewilding projects.

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everyonemr@reddit

How are you going to get a brainless animal to eat?

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sockpuppet7654321@reddit

Clams muscles oysters and scallops

What he's describing already exists in nature

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everyonemr@reddit

I think OP was talking about birds and or mammals. I don't think mollusks need to be genetically modified to not think.

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Fleischhauf@reddit

it does exist and people are trying to make it cheaper for the mass market: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultured_meat

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Wurm42@reddit

Yup, this is it. Lab-grown meat.

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borncorp@reddit (OP)

Lab-grown meat is about growing muscle tissue directly in a lab without a body, while a "brainless meat animal" would still be a full organism designed to grow meat without awareness. One of the challenges of lab-grown meat is the texture since it's basically the same tissue cloned over and over, it lacks the many types of tissues, cartilages, organic material that an animal has.

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Wurm42@reddit

If that's the distinction you're making, how do you expect your brainless meat animal to eat, drink, and generally take care of itself?

Note that we have discovered that factory farm chickens can't be allowed to get TOO dumb, or they tend to die from choking while drinking.

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sleeper_shark@reddit

Idk, most of my coworkers are pretty brainless but still manage to eat, drink and generally take care of themselves.

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SpiketheFox32@reddit

They probably don't taste very good, though.

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clervis@reddit

I dunno. How do you do it?

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adamdoesmusic@reddit

Idk, breed it to have an ISO standard feed hookup?

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CBTwitch@reddit

That almost sounds like foie gras.

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Minute-Detail-3859@reddit

I learned about that in one of my college classes, "Food and Society," and the image didn't leave my head for a whole week. It felt like there was a weight upon me after hearing about it. Disgust is too light a word, and I don't think there's one heavy enough to describe what I felt after learning about it. Absolutely abhorrent.

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CBTwitch@reddit

It also tastes like shit.

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TheDotCaptin@reddit

Let a computer do the thinking, put little chips inside that moves it about.

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Docjaded@reddit

Cyborg Fried Chicken

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BrowningLoPower@reddit

Kentucky Fried Cyborg

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Porkenstein@reddit

cyborg livestock, good lord

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Biff_Tannenator@reddit

The crazy thing is that we have all the technological ingredients to make that happen... right now.

It feels cyberpunk on paper right now, but after a few years, people wouldn't feel that it's very cyberpunk anymore.

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Shadesbane43@reddit

All good until you bite into a motherboard in your chicken sandwich

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ZacharyShade@reddit

r/BrandNewSentence

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MillenialForHire@reddit

Obligatory pedantic r/BrandNewSentenceFragment

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bionicjoey@reddit

WTF subreddit do you think this is?

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ShamefulWatching@reddit

Why couldn't it be a body standing in a cage, being tube fed whatever nutrient is suitable?

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Happy_Brilliant7827@reddit

FYI- Rubber chicken disease is not directly related to free-range but is often the problem that leads to the rubbery tough texture

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ShamefulWatching@reddit

I guess I should have clarified that. If I had to guess, the burst energy of adrenaline from a fight or flight scenario (like the neighbor's dogs chasing them) causes the muscles to tear and strengthen ligaments. It really reminded me of those longer thin bones that you find in the turkey legs. I raised turkeys too, their meat was always delicious.

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Phemto_B@reddit

There is such a thing as single-celled animals, so a culture of muscle cells is also a herd of "brainless meat animals."

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iwantfutanaricumonme@reddit

You're thinking of plant based meat, it's just protein extracted from plants that has to be molded to have any structure. Lab grown meat doesn't have those constraints. It's usually grown without blood or bones because it's a waste, but that could also be grown theoretically. It can also be grown onto any chosen scaffolding, including fruit and other vegetables.

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Ok_Space2463@reddit

Idk about this one, a lot of research and money have gone into this already. The problem is the expensive bioreactors that are used (that need animal womb juice anyways) don't produce enough meat for it to be commercial / it would be too expensive.

Also the media and people don't trust lab grown meat, some people say it tastes different and the added hormones are bad. There were campaigns i think in Australia? To shut the produce/ importation of them.

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ShakeShakeZipDribble@reddit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkMoIMBBEXQ

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CrewBest2158@reddit

The trick is to make the end product more or less as safe or better than the real thing, cost the same or cheaper, be as impactful or less on the environment, with the same or better nutrition, and this is maybe the hardest one: have equal or better taste, texture, look, and cookability (is that a real word?) .

That's quite a few challenges, but if it could be done, the entire industry could change.

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sockpuppet7654321@reddit

I mean they could just farm clams, muscles, oysters, and scallops

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CdenGG@reddit

How would it retrieve nutrients? How would it allocate those nutrients? It has no brain. How would it get oxygen or pump blood? Fight diseases? If you gave it a brain just good enough to manage the body... well that's no different from a regular animal.

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sockpuppet7654321@reddit

Clams oysters muscles and scallops, What he's describing is literally those.

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SophiaofPrussia@reddit

kind of like a plant that just happens to make meat

You’re describing mushrooms.

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sockpuppet7654321@reddit

He's describing clams, oysters, and muscles

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Psychological_Web687@reddit

It was probably implied that they didn't want something that tastes like dirt.

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MythOfHappyness@reddit

This guy's never had mushroom risotto with chives, shallots, lots of butter, and a white wine reduction and it shows.

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sockpuppet7654321@reddit

So like oysters.They don't really have a central nervous system. I think nature beat you to this millions of years ago.

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gaadzooksx@reddit

I would imagine it would be more expensive. An organism that was hooked up to breathing and feeding tubes for its entire life cycle in a form of suspended animation. Because its muscles (if any are to develop) would atrophy.

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it_might_be_a_tuba@reddit

*raises hand* It might be a tumour!

But seriously, isn't there an argument that some shellfish are as close to being plants as animals can get? They cement themselves to a rock, passively absorb nutrients, and spoof randomly into the water like a tree releasing pollen.

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regal1989@reddit

Like this? https://youtu.be/bSD6WhIAF8Y?si=2_-KfKINYOBOvjoW

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borncorp@reddit (OP)

Exactly

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erisod@reddit

What if you make them evil instead? Then we can feel good about killing them.

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saggywitchtits@reddit

What if we made them neutral. With enemies you know where they stand, but neutrals...

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Octocube25@reddit

What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?

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Fleischhauf@reddit

Are you suggesting to slaughter all the swiss here?

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Fleischhauf@reddit

I like your thinking!
Though, how do we make them evil ?

Would they be evil by genetics (is that even possible?). And can you be evil in the first place if you did not do it with intention, but are forced through your genes?

If it can't be done genetically we probably need to do something similar, that forces them to be evil, then the same argument applies as with genetics.

They then need to be evil by choice without us interfering too much. We then probably need to breed a shitton of animals and figure out a way to tell which ones are evil and then kill them.

To foster evilness without making us evil by proxy we could ask North korea (or some other evil actor) to create some charles-manson-chicken-schools or something, where attendance is voluntary and then pick out the most evil graduates.

As a follow up question I'd be curious if meat of evil chickens is different than from the nicer ones.

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loptopandbingo@reddit

"If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? Maybe. If they screamed all the time, for no reason." --Jack Handey

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ground__contro1@reddit

What if you make them so they want to be eaten? Restaurant at the End of the World style

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UncleSnowstorm@reddit

Too kinky, I don't consent

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sut345@reddit

Society needs to raise more vore fetishists

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Happy_Brilliant7827@reddit

Or chronically, incurably depressed! Thats the ticket

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borncorp@reddit (OP)

I like this idea, make them evil and very muscular so we can harvest their meat, they should look like the monsters from DOOM. It would be fun chasing them down if they find a way to escape.

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erisod@reddit

Yeah and no way it could go wrong. Also some interesting questions about who the real monsters are.

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Japaneseoppailover@reddit

We already have that. It's called MAGA.

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Gsandwiches@reddit

I still prefer the while soilent green idea 💀

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JMRadomski@reddit

This conversation always makes me think of ChickieNobs from Margaret Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake

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Funky-Feeling@reddit

We have a few... I believe they are called Magas

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MythOfHappyness@reddit

Boo

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InformalSubstance135@reddit

Pretty sure this is a Rick and Morty episode.

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Asymmetrical_Anomaly@reddit

What you’re describing is called livestock

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Asymmetrical_Anomaly@reddit

What you’re describing is called livestock

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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Jektonoporkins1@reddit

But it was funny

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FireballAllNight@reddit

Clone vegans.

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Ok_Ability9566@reddit

Chill out morty

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Adventurous_Bonus917@reddit

seems too complicated. we can literally just grow meat on it's own. no need for all the extra waste stuff.

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BobT21@reddit

We have enough politicians.

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dumly@reddit

Eat the rich?

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T_James_Grand@reddit

You mean a chicken? Exists

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shotsallover@reddit

They’re the closest thing to self-propelled meat we’re going to get. Hands down some of the dumbest animals on the planet.

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redpat2061@reddit

Chickens aren’t brainless, just look at how mean and nasty they are to each other.

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T_James_Grand@reddit

Fish then?

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the_noise_we_made@reddit

Sounds brainless to me.

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ServeAlone7622@reddit

Sounds like a republican to me

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redpat2061@reddit

It takes real emotion to be that nasty

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Jacks_Lack_of_Sleep@reddit

Have you ever seen people?

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bolivar-shagnasty@reddit

TIL chickens are sorority girls

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pragmojo@reddit

Sheep also

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Electronic_Horror_56@reddit

https://youtu.be/5HLy27bK-wU?si=7-yLQjd-E1CVAEHo

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Potatoes90@reddit

You ever seen a chicken or cow in person? They’re pretty brainless already.

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threedubya@reddit

Tree cow . Its never moves and you just carve off pieces for meat/plant flesh.

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Sol33t303@reddit

I mean, that basically just sounds like lab grown meat.

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the_darkener@reddit

Came here for this. We're on our way already!

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sonicjesus@reddit

["That's absolutely horrible," exclaimed Arthur, "the most revolting thing I've ever heard."

"What's the problem Earthman?" said Zaphod, now transferring his attention to the animal's enormous rump.

"I just don't want to eat an animal that's standing there inviting me to," said Arthur, "It's heartless."

"Better than eating an animal that doesn't want to be eaten," said Zaphod.](https://remotestorage.blogspot.com/2010/07/douglas-adamss-cow-that-wants-to-be.html).

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Pasta-hobo@reddit

The problem here is that it'd be a vegetable from birth onward, which means it's muscles wouldn't develop.

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borncorp@reddit (OP)

Artificial Muscle Stimulation. Could be electrical pulses or mechanical aid.

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Soninuva@reddit

I mean, the setup and time for that means it wouldn’t be cost effective, so that means it’s never going to happen

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sleeper_shark@reddit

I’m not sure why you think that. Mass produced machines like this can’t be very expensive, and you’d save on space since you can basically keep your meat plant in a container… it doesn’t have to go outside or anything.

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MisterET@reddit

It will never be as cheap as just a regular animal that has a brain and can suffer though. An animal brain is the cheapest, most cost effective, and easiest solution to every single problem presented in this thread - except for the brain's capacity to suffer.

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AyAyAyBamba_462@reddit

which would balloon the cost of meat to the point where it would be unaffordable to the majority of people.

Meat is cheapish now because you can dump 100 cows in a field with a bull, 75% of them will survive to have a few babies before they get butchered, and you don't need to do a ton else outside of basic care and having a vet check them every few months before butchering them.

The system you are proposing would require human intervention 24/7. They wouldn't be able to relieve themselves, they wouldn't be able to eat, they wouldn't be able to exercise to grow muscle. You would massively increase the price and the energy cost/pollution these farms produce.

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MarcusBuer@reddit

We don't need to create it, it already exists.

Bivalves (oysters, mussels, clams and scallops) are brainless, have meat, and are filter feeders, so mass producing them would clean the water, instead of polluting it like other types of farming.

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joshhupp@reddit

Just gotta get rid of that fishy taste

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TNoStone@reddit

And the dirt. (Maybe i just had shitty bivalves). Also scallops have not had this issue with me and taste better and aren’t slimy lol

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veryblocky@reddit

I love mussels, one of my favourite dishes

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x3leggeddawg@reddit

Butter and a nice sear would do the trick

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jooooooooooooose@reddit

I had a friend who was vegetarian for ethical reasons but would eat scallops etc, eventually he stopped because it was too annoying to explain it to everyone

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jooooooooooooose@reddit

yea dude it's called a scallop

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PhDFeelGood_@reddit

It wouldn't live either. Is a lack of life better than a life that ends? I understand wanting to avoid suffering, but at the cost of living?

Note, I have 13 cows grazing on my property that seem quite happy. If your objective is to avoid cruelty and feed lots, I would advocate for decentralizing food production. Most cities won't even let you have a small garden or chickens, fix that first.

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captain_ghostface@reddit

I remember this episode of rick and morty

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Echo-Azure@reddit

I'll settle for lab-grown mammalian muscle tissue, which is on the verge of becoming commercially available.

I've always liked meat as a foodstuff, but I'm vegetarian because I like animals too much to kill and eat them. So lab-grown muscle tissue might be a frankenfood, but it'd allow me to have the roast chicken I've been wanting lately, without any trouble from my conscience.

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bandti45@reddit

I think the meat industry leave a lot to be desired but I don't have the time or money to go have a balanced diet without meat

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Stormcloudy@reddit

Time I could buy, but a meat-free diet is demonstrably cheaper. It does require a little more cooking skills and leaning into spices you may have to learn about

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Stormcloudy@reddit

Margaret Atwood used a concept of a brainless meat animal that workers dumped buckets of nutrients into and either butchered it at proper size or harvested limbs. It's been a while, but she plays with a LOT of GMO concepts.

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Late-External3249@reddit

How about making a cow that WANTS to be eaten and can communicate that in English?

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bionicjoey@reddit

Alternatively develop something like the Cystypig from Outer Worlds.

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bolivar-shagnasty@reddit

Tribbles are born pregnant.

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Xerxys@reddit

Gregnant?

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N1biru@reddit

pergnate

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LegitSkin@reddit

Let's hope they don't secretly look like Ewan McGregor and Scarlet Johhanson

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redbo@reddit

We’d have other uses for those.

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SaabAero93Ttid@reddit

It would be completely pointless and inefficient.

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snugglz420@reddit

it's called chicken

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ServeAlone7622@reddit

What about an animal whose sole desire is to be eaten? Something like this…

https://youtu.be/5HLy27bK-wU

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Wybaar@reddit

There's a second season episode of the TV show Eureka where they tried something like this and drained the brain power of almost the whole town of geniuses, E=MC...?

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tehcatnip@reddit

People need the things in meat, not meat itself.

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wheredidiparkmyllama@reddit

This is like the Rick and Morty spaghetti episode

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Outrageous_Bet_1971@reddit

Maggie produced a generation by selling off council house stock

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thunder_boots@reddit

I hunt. I kill living wild animals and watch them die, then butcher them and eat them. I have fewer moral reservations about taking the life of a happy animal to feed myself than I would about eating your proposed science project.

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vgdomvg@reddit

I dunno why people want to do all of this nonsense and not just eat beans and lentils, like you wanna go through all this just to get the same proteins you can get from plants - crazy idea, just eat plants man

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hazelhare3@reddit

Some people enjoy meat. It might not be strictly necessary for most people, but neither is sugar, and just look at all of the artificial sweetener products on the market. People could just quit consuming so much sugar, but they enjoy it and the money is there, so now we have aspartame.

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ZacharyShade@reddit

I've maybe craved refried beans a few times, but I've certainly never in my life craved lentils. Even though I had one last night for the first time in a few months, my mouth is watering just thinking about a nice juicy bacon cheeseburger and I'm not hungry that's why.

Also even if you aren't a douchebag, announcing you're a vegetarian is akin to saying you're a fan of like Tool or Limp Bizkit, everyone will just assume it. The list isn't extensive, but they're very good reasons.

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borncorp@reddit (OP)

Crazy idea, become photosynthetic

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kind of like a plant that just happens to make meat or other animal products.

Perhaps a fungus would be more suitable 🤔