Challenge #02201-F011: Quantity Control
Havenworlders learn about Meat consumption, Animal-Stocking and The USA-Attitude of "more equals better". -- Anon Guest
Havenworlders are aware of carnivores on an intellectual level. Many understand that one species' nutrition doesn't work for all species. Some Havenworlders are insectivorous and adorably claim to be mighty hunters before they meet Deathworlders.
What surprised them is what some Deathworlders did in order to obtain meat.
"So. Since your kind invented agriculture, you attempted to farm meat like you farmed plant products," said Kiki, Xenohistorian. "Selective breeding, over-breeding, minimising the space that the animals were kept in, keeping them in unhealthy conditions to maximise the meat, feeding them unhealthy and incompatible food..."
"Amongst many other things, yes," admitted Human Pym. "For a long time, quantity mattered more than quality."
"Not one of the people involved in the complete process had a single thought about the health of the food relating to the health of the eater?"
"Not a soul. Or if they did, they ignored it for personal convenience." Human Pym shrugged. "Humans are very good at selective ignorance, willful denial, and outright venal profit-gouging."
"Typical Deathworlders," muttered Kiki. "That's pretty much normal to varying degrees amongst most Deathworlder species. When did your kind realise that the health of the environment related to the health of your food, which related to the health of your people?"
"It. Took. Ages," said Human Pym. "Well into the twenty-first century and after the Green Revolution and the Oligarch Purge. It took bloody war to return us from the edge of outright environmental disaster, and even then, it was a close call. Humanity hung on by its fingertips, just before the first exodus down a bunch of wormholes. Eventually, Humanity figured out that greedy, grasping arseholes with more than they deserved were the problem and--" Human Pym drew a line across their own neck with a pointing finger and made a harsh sort of gargling noise. "With us, reform has always come at the end of a weapon."
Kiki nodded. "Typical Deathworlders."
Human Pym sighed. "Yeah."
"How would you explain the philosophy of 'more is better' when more was clearly worse?"
Human Pym shrugged. "Humans aren't satisfied. We want new, we want better, we want to be sure of our resources. There's something in our brains that wants the easy solutions regardless of how bad they are for us. Just because they're easy. Now that we can go wherever and eat whatever, the moral choices are easier. We can grow meat in the lab with a perfect nutritional profile. Hell, we can print it if we want to. No cows need to die for our beef and all that. Nevertheless, some of us still want to hunt and kill our own meat, or farm our own fruit. Just because it's something different. We got to the stars by being impatient, greedy shits and now... we can do that and help people. It's weird, but it works for us."
Kiki dutifully wrote that down. Every Deathworlder had a different answer for their grasping attitude towards the rest of the universe. Some day, she might even hit upon some that agreed with each other.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Photology75]
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