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Comment by rpedela | Hacker News Reader

Abstinence has never worked whether it is sex or environmental sustainability. We have to find solutions that factor in human nature. Humans, as a species, will not stop having sex nor will they stop eating meat.

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yes, factor in human nature but first understand what it is. there are 360 million vegetarians in India, for example. eating meat isn't coded in our DNA.

Actually it is in the DNA. The shape of our teeth are both for eating meat and vegetables. India is the only example I am aware of with a culture of vegetarianism. That begs the question, why? One possibility is religion.

Many human cultures include the concept of slavery, that doesn't mean it is morally acceptable.

Coded into our DNA doesn't mean it is morally acceptable.

That's like saying humans will never stop raping and murdering because of human nature so we have to be realistic and find solutions that don't involve just not raping and murdering people.

I'm confused, there have never been a large group of people who would rape and murder. I'm not convinced it's even an order of magnitude lower now than it was 1k years ago (or 10k). The largest majority have also been omnivores (I'd include insects, eggs, and fish) for almost the entirety of that time.

It doesn't look like we're going to either solve omnivorism or perfect non-violent world peace any time soon. On the other hand, I suppose a Matrix-like utopian hellscape could bring us both.

Not really. There is a very small percentage of the population that will always do those things, but the only time that happens on a large scale is if something more fundamental is wrong. Fix that fundamental problem (e.g. lack of food and water) and people behave better.

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