[deraj]

I was thinking about a subject recently, and I spoke with a friend about it, so he referred me to a movie; Soylent Green. If any of you know of it, you know where I'm going. If not, let me explain.

Soylent Green was a wafer used as a food source.... made from dead people. Now I know this may sound disgusting, but why not? Especially if you didn't know what it was? We have no shortage of dead people, and they contain many nutrients and such that we need. This could easily help with poverty stricken populations.

I just want to know what you guys think of this. Why shouldn't we? What is it that is so abhorant about cannabalism?


[spoiler=As an aside.]
Another theme was the euthanisation of the elderly to make this, and to me that seemed pretty cool, but that's just wrong...
[/spoiler]

[pepsi]

usually nothing good is related to cannibalism.


Whatever cultures did embrace it, well, are viewed with backwards peoples. Funnily enough there are great numbers of people with resistant genetics to bacteria associated to dead corpses.

Apart me doesnt care about the body after death, but I would rather not be eaten by a human.

[Tyndmyr]

Cannibalism is actually pretty rare, even historically speaking. It's generally taboo because it's a terrible idea disease wise.

[Genmotty]

Plus it would work in economic terms, consider the death rate 1.2 per 1000 etc. well I doubt 1.2 people are going to feed that 1000. Hence it doesn't work practically.

Gen

[coolmule]

Although from what I've read we taste more like pork...

[Impulse]

Originally Posted by coolmule

Although from what I've read we taste more like pork...

That's because humans are very closely related (at the DNA level) to pigs.

[Farseer_Emlyn]

It'd be much more effective to grind bodies up and use them to make fertilizer. It's widely accepted that plants feed more people than animals.

Of course, I've suggest this for years. We bury people in airtight caskets with no hope of their resources being reused and we're filling the ground with steal & fiberglass objects...what is the long term impact of this?

It'd be much more economically feasible to bury people without coffins (perhaps wrapped in natural cloths) and let the earth retake them.

[Tyndmyr]

The same thing still happens eventually, it just takes longer. Which, from a disease standpoint, is a very good thing. A deep burial and a sealed container will mitigate a great many diseases.

Also, it helps avoid heavy metal buildup, like you'd get if our bodies were quickly consumed back into our own food chain.

[BloodiedFangs]

Originally Posted by Tyndmyr

Cannibalism is actually pretty rare, even historically speaking. It's generally taboo because it's a terrible idea disease wise.

I don't know about that...I can think of a few examples off the top of my head, such as Irish Mutton (ie people, a result of some famine, IIRC), many tribes in Papua New Guinea, and I may just be delusional but I think read something about cannibalism in China once...

Additionally, eating people tends to cause something similar to mad cow disease. However, a study that was released a while back found that most Caucasians were actually resistant to the effects of this, suggesting a history of serious cannibalism

[Chton]

Originally Posted by Deraj

This could easily help with poverty stricken populations.

As cannibalism could be an idea to assist people dying from starvation...it would be very problematic...
Indeed, human flash contain the same nutrients as any other. But I recall reading in Illustrated Science, that consuming human flesh often results in serious brain-deciese over time. (A and to-death-starved corpse wouldn't have much meat on it, would it?)

Still...it would be a lot easier to help poverty-stricken nations by ending the continuous rape of their economy and resources. And we already have enough food in this world to feed the entire plantes population. Only problem is that most of the food excists in the richer part of the world. (And we are not that good on sharing...)
Economics and politics at all levels, (international, national and local) have often prevented food from reaching hungry people, not a lack of production.

Something else could be to continue research on gene-crops. (Genetically engineered food production as a last resort, as the technology is still young and would improve with time)