Because a large proportion of vegans revert to eating animals at some point in their lives. Moreover, it isn’t going to happen in any timeframe, unfortunately.
I think pressing a button to make everyone (ethically) vegan would be a much more robust way to end factory farming (and all forms of animal exploitation) than pressing a button to get cultivated meat on supermarket shelves at a competitive price point.
If everyone is ethically vegan: the social/cultural pressure to remain vegan is much stronger –> ex-veganism is heavily stigmatised –> far fewer ex-vegans –> not enough demand for factory farming to survive or return
Even before that, presumably factory farming would be undermined from every angle: lawmakers would ban it, employees would quit/strike, consumers would boycott
As far as I know, cultivated meat faces a number of cultural barriers
Clearly it’s much much harder to make everyone vegan than to get affordable cultivated meat on supermarket shelves! That’s one reason why I think cultivated meat is currently a more powerful tool at our disposal than vegan outreach for helping animals.
But I want the vegan outreachers to continue doing their work. One reason is I think that veganism is, deontologically, a moral obligation; another is that I think veganism is a costly signal that binds the animal movement together, which can serve to keep advocates motivated.
If we made everyone vegan in an instant, how would that not end factory farming?
Because a large proportion of vegans revert to eating animals at some point in their lives. Moreover, it isn’t going to happen in any timeframe, unfortunately.
I think pressing a button to make everyone (ethically) vegan would be a much more robust way to end factory farming (and all forms of animal exploitation) than pressing a button to get cultivated meat on supermarket shelves at a competitive price point.
If everyone is ethically vegan: the social/cultural pressure to remain vegan is much stronger –> ex-veganism is heavily stigmatised –> far fewer ex-vegans –> not enough demand for factory farming to survive or return
Even before that, presumably factory farming would be undermined from every angle: lawmakers would ban it, employees would quit/strike, consumers would boycott
As far as I know, cultivated meat faces a number of cultural barriers
Clearly it’s much much harder to make everyone vegan than to get affordable cultivated meat on supermarket shelves! That’s one reason why I think cultivated meat is currently a more powerful tool at our disposal than vegan outreach for helping animals.
But I want the vegan outreachers to continue doing their work. One reason is I think that veganism is, deontologically, a moral obligation; another is that I think veganism is a costly signal that binds the animal movement together, which can serve to keep advocates motivated.
Ok, you’ve convinced me on the theoretical button-pushing. In reality those aren’t the options we’re presented with.