Have Your Steak and Eat it Too

In the podcast Making Sense , hosted by philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris, he talks to the visionary meat manufacturer Uma Valeti in an episode entitled “Meat without Misery.” Valeti is an accomplished cardiologist who has made it his goal to develop a way to culture artificial meat. In the podcast, Valeti and Harris discuss how lab meat is the best and only method to circumvent the moral scruple of eating organic meat. Valeti makes a persuasive case as to why lab-grown meat should replace meat from animals. The first tactic Valeti uses to persuade the audience is an emotional appeal. As a way to illustrate the horror of conventional slaughter methods, he recalls a memory from his early childhood using extremely grotesque imagery. At the age of twelve, Valeti attended a birthday party in India with much of the food at the party including meat. As a curious child, he began wondering around the house where the party was held. Upon exiting the house and entering the...