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The problem for humans eating humans is prion disease, something akin to Mad Cow disease. This is peevalent in cannibal societies but weaker members of the tribe are morelikely to contract it because the better cuts are away from the brain and spinal area.
It's better to reserve humans for pet food (the prion disease won't affect them) but keep humans captive as long as you can to flush out their systems. They can exist without food for a while but give them plenty of water.
But keep in mind that humans made a great advance when they began to make slaves of worthwhile captives rather than killing them.
Ah, yes, cue the guy who is just smarter than all others combined. Some thoughts on your thoughts:
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Originally Posted by Mircea
Sure. It would be a last resort. Hopefully, you planned well, and because you had a plan, you could prepare and you wouldn't have to go that route. Still, even the best laid plans are made waste. You do what you do to survive. Anyone remember the rugby team that crashed in the Andes? They had to resort to cannibalism.
Humans are animals, no different from any other animal. The taboo associated with cannibalism is religious based -- humans have a "soul" -- and not based on any other logic.
Hence the original question.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mircea
No one with a modicum of intelligence believes society will collapse. Maybe society will collapse after your "too big to fail banks fail." Right?
After the above statement about best laid plans going to waste, you say this. Which is it?
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Originally Posted by Mircea
If Mercury crashes into the Sun....
Mercury's spinning around the sun is governed by the laws of physics. People not eating people is governed by the laws of people. Which do you think is more likely to collapse first?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mircea
And what does that have to do with cannibalism? I'll make a deal with you, if you complain about us eating you after you die, then we'll stop eating you.
I say "people are downright savage" in support of my point, and you ask this? Maybe you should start singing your posts with "Not as smart as I think I am...
PS: What happens to my body after I die is of no concern to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mircea
What about it, and how is that even remotely relevant here? Besides, as a people, the Greeks are an helluva stronger than your typical soft weak American.
What about it? Maybe you should talk to people who were actually there, instead of just guessing.
The only reason you think that, is because you don't know those people and have never been in their countries. You wouldn't last 5 seconds in Greece without whining and sniveling about something. None of you people have any idea what hardship is. To you all, hardship is when the cable goes out, or your cell-phone battery dies.
My foreign case studies were provided to show the extremes people are willing to go to in times of desperation. Greece was considered such a civilized place, and look at the rioting in the streets there. People fought and killed each other over food items during the Soviet Union's collapse. Don't assume that everyone is uninformed. I HAVE spoken to people who lived through that.
I wouldn't last 5 seconds in Greece? Okay, whatever. Not that I have a thing to prove to you, but I lasted several months in Afghanistan without whining. From late June through early September I did not have a single shower. In the heat of the Afghan summer. Not enough water. The water we had we needed to drink. I slept on the ground during that little stretch, too. Aside from these little hardships, there was that little nuisance of Taliban fighters who liked to shoot at us. Still no whining here. So forgive me if I disagree. I DO know what hardship is. Probably more so than you.
Amused at your ill-informed sense of self-righteousness...
As long as I'm of sound mind and/or I have any moral value left, no I wouldn't. I'd go with insects, worms, etc, first.
Of course, when the body and mind begin breaking down in this sort of situation, there's no telling what any given individual might do. But at that point, they are no longer themselves (assuming they were not mentally ill to begin with); they have simply become "lunatic" machines trying to sustain themselves. I'd hope I'd be of sound enough mind to munch on some water hemlock or deadly nightshade before I got to the point I'm thinking of killing someone for food, supplies, or their flesh, because truthfully, that's no longer living. At that point, I've become the scumbag.
So as far as killing someone (for whatever reason): not going to happen in my case unless it's in self defense or a "warlike" situation. My belief in liberty prevents me from doing so. As much as the modern societal machine has tried to convince me otherwise, I still respect human life (and all life for that matter). The concept of liberty cannot function in the absence of respect for the lives of others. Call it "morality" or whatever you like, but that's the way it is for me.
To be blunt, if you feel you would kill another person for his/her belongings, food, or flesh, then as "preppers" or "survivalists" you should be ashamed of yourselves because you are EXACTLY what you are preparing against. See the irony there? So you have now become "one of them." There is no point of you stocking anything other than firearms, ammo, and other weaponry. You are essentially another flavor of gang-banger. Have at it. But I will take no part in it. And you wonder why folks call preppers and survivalists nutjobs?
You are in a much better position than many of us. Interior Alaska is where I would like to be in this situation as well. I think people in large population centers are going to have it the worst. You are in a place where you can theoretically live off of the land and may be able to avoid hunting humans as a food source.
Am I right, or as an outsider, do I not understand Alaska?
Well the Alaska location has it's pros and cons in this situation. There are comparitively less humans than game animals so less competition for resources, but our land mass is bigger so there's no guarantee you'd find the critters when you needed them. The extreme cold means we have less issues with parasites and diseases, and food preservation is super simple for 4-6 months of the year... but the parasites and diseases we do have are pretty tenacious because of the adverse climate, and the climate itself makes foraging (and hunting to some extent) rather difficult in winter.
You'd probably be able to get voles/mice and grouse/ptarmigan enough to survive through winter if you knew how to trap but you'd really have to be careful not to deplete the area and you'd best have some other foods stored up to supplement the protein and needed calories (we have to double the caloric intake in winter just to stay warm when working outside). I think any hunting of humans that occured up here would be less for eating them for food, and more about protecting the other food sources from being depleted... territorial hunting ranges would be reinstated for the human animal.
So I don't know whether we're better off than an urban area as far as cannibalism is strictly concerned... but it's probably easier to hunt other animals than to hunt humans because there are more critters than folks here, but resource wasters would certainly find themselves targets for thinning.
I think all other available food sources would have to be depleted before I contemplated hunting a human for food. Eating human meat (already deceased) rather than risking life and limb going out to hunt other live game or forage for edibles, maybe. Like Granny, I know all too well the sorts of diseases, parasites, and toxins are in humans and other animals. I'd probably (theoretically) would eat available human meat before killing and eating my pet though... the pet is still alive and still serving a function.
I don't think I could ever eat my pets, no matter what the circumstance. I need them for protection, plus they've had their vaccines, I'm not sure I want those chemicals in me. After they be gone, then what?
As for people, it might depend on the person. I don't think I would want to live in a world that consumed people. I don't even like living in a world that is so cruel to animals.
Luckily, with a bit of planning, you wouldn't need to eat any hunted humans yourself... you can use it as bait for other game, or feed them to your guardian pets and livestock (hogs & chickens). So, I might not be entirely willing to eat a person, especially not hunt a person, but I would have zero compunction about using that meat for other purposes.
don't fear the man with the gun, fear the man with the hog farm
I am sorry but I could not and would not kill another human and eat them to survive......I would eat bugs and plants until none were left.....After that, I guess I would parish......
To be blunt, if you feel you would kill another person for his/her belongings, food, or flesh, then as "preppers" or "survivalists" you should be ashamed of yourselves because you are EXACTLY what you are preparing against. See the irony there? So you have now become "one of them." There is no point of you stocking anything other than firearms, ammo, and other weaponry. You are essentially another flavor of gang-banger. Have at it. But I will take no part in it. And you wonder why folks call preppers and survivalists nutjobs?
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Originally Posted by cowdog
I'm I the only one who thinks the OP poster should be in jail, killed, or tied up forever?
Gentlemen, relax. Nobody is PLANNING to go to this extreme. This is a completely hypothetical discussion, and a perfectly legitimate discussion. So legitimate, in fact, that I once had this discussion in a philosophy class while I was at the University of Colorado. Generally, most people object to cannibalism because they believe in the concept of the soul, and that we are created in God's image. I agree with this. Not everyone does. If you do not believe in God or the soul, then there should be no objection. If you believe in evolution, there REALLY should be no objection, as evolution tells us that we are just animals anyway.
So relax. Nobody needs to be killed or jailed over starting a discussion. If you want to do this to 20yrs, then you need to do it to a few philosophy professors at universities around the country as well.
Gentlemen, relax. Nobody is PLANNING to go to this extreme. This is a completely hypothetical discussion, and a perfectly legitimate discussion. So legitimate, in fact, that I once had this discussion in a philosophy class while I was at the University of Colorado. Generally, most people object to cannibalism because they believe in the concept of the soul, and that we are created in God's image. I agree with this. Not everyone does. If you do not believe in God or the soul, then there should be no objection. If you believe in evolution, there REALLY should be no objection, as evolution tells us that we are just animals anyway.
So relax. Nobody needs to be killed or jailed over starting a discussion. If you want to do this to 20yrs, then you need to do it to a few philosophy professors at universities around the country as well.
I would not object because I think humans are special to God, I believe every creature is precious. I would not consume a human because I think we are disgusting animals. Most of us are obese, go eat a can of lard if your that desperate. I don't think enough of the human race to donate my touche to your survival. I agree with Gates that we can do without a few billion, but I don't approve of his means, and would probably want to include the likes of him in the cull. Maybe we would make good fertilizer.
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