Obviously this question is only for people who eat beef regularly.

But I just was wondering, what IQ/ability would make you swear off beef? If they could speak like an 8 y.o, would that be enough to cut off beef? If they got an IQ of 80, would that do it?

  • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’ll go with the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy answer and say the cow likely will offer me in person which cuts of meat I prefer. It’s sole purpose in life is to be part of the food cycle. It knows that and it accepts it.

  • ATQ@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Well, some people believe that pigs are as smart as toddlers. So a cow would, at a minimum, have to be smarter than a pig.

    • Kerfuffle@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Well, some people believe that pigs are as smart as toddlers. So a cow would, at a minimum, have to be smarter than a pig.

      Kind of an interesting thought process. It seems like the assumption is “I’m doing it, so it has to be fine”.

      The problem with thinking that way is people have flaws, and if you think like that you’ll just take it as a given whatever you’re doing is already correct and never fix any personal issues.

  • MyDogLovesMe@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    The point at which it could collaborate with others and fight back.

    Until then, it looks like meat is back on the menu, Boys!

  • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Well I don’t eat meat at all, and part of the reason is the video on YouTube of the little girl who snuck her pet cow onto her indoor porch and is holding it in her lap and scratching it while it sighs contentedly.

  • Kerfuffle@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    But I just was wondering, what IQ/ability would make you swear off beef?

    10% of the current IQ would probably be high enough.

  • atlasraven31@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Cows could launch a spaceship past Warp 1 and I would still want a cheeseburger. I could make do with a well marinated portabello burger at the same price.

  • PseudoSpock@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    They’ll basically need to become smart enough to sue for their right not to be eaten and win before I stop eating them.

  • Echo71Niner@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I once stayed off red meat for 1 year and my health improved tremendously, and then returned to it and my health deteriorated in record time. I’m now back off red meat and feeling better than ever. Maybe at one time red meat was good for you, but the way they raise cattle for profits it would not surprise me they are butchering sick animals as well.

  • kava@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I wouldn’t eat a dog, a monkey, an octopus, a dolphin, a whale, a cat, a parrot, a crow, or a donkey. Pretty much everything else is on the table unless I’m missing something.

    I don’t think it’s entirely to do with intelligence. Pigs for example are apparently of similar intelligence to dogs, but I love eating pork. Obviously the dog has the advantage of a unique domestication where they can read and react to our emotions better than virtually all other animals.

    So it’s an interesting question you ask. Because while intelligence isn’t the primary reason it has to certainly be a motivator because all of those I listed are intelligent animals.

    To actually answer your question, they would have to be pretty damn smart for me to stop eating them because they are delicious.

  • j4k3@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I think it should be mandatory for everyone to spend at least one day of their young adult life hunting, killing, dressing, and cooking. The experience will likely alter the person’s entire outlook on life and meat in general.

    I never forget that meat was a life that mattered; with a personality; good and bad days; life; experience; struggle it lost to me. It doesn’t stop me from eating meat. I wish I had the ability to hunt for what I need. I know my own ethics, like when to take a clean shot, and only taking what I need. Animals in industrial livestock facilities are mostly managed by unethical criminals. None of us asked to be born in such an overpopulated world. Unfortunately, this is the impossible problem. If you are smart enough to see the issue of overpopulation, that is great, but even if you avoid having children, those that are not so bright will always enumerate.

  • Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    What I eat is already dead. I’ve never decided to eat something in such a way that it contributed to the harm of any lifeform. So it’s not a matter of intelligence, but if it was, it could be as intelligent as a snail and I still wouldn’t eat it.

    • Dandroid@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I eat meat, but this is a dumb fucking take. The meat industry exists because we eat meat. If people didn’t eat meat, then cows wouldn’t be slaughtered. Therefore, if we all didn’t eat meat, that cow that you ate wouldn’t be dead.

      • Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        The meat industry exists because we eat meat.

        But not all meat-eating leads to the perpetuation of the meat industry. Not all exchanges involving meat are fuel for said industry.

        The goal of pro-animal ethics is “do no harm”, not “do not eat them”. There are several workarounds to the former. I’m not pulling these out of my ass, there are century-old industries around these too.