Phil Bowermaster has some thoughts on animal rights, as does Megan McArdle.

I would find it tough to give up eating mammals. I am bothered by eating pork, because pigs seem to be quite intelligent (though not enough to forgo it), but I have trouble working up much sympathy for cattle. I’m also a little off put by baby mammals (so I rarely eat lamb, and almost never veal), though that actually seems a little irrational to me. Just my own version of Leon Kass’ “yuck factor” I guess. And I have no problem with eggs, though I wouldn’t want to eat deep-fried chicks (even disregarding the inefficiencies of finding much meat amidst the bones and viscera). Anyway, as noted, forgoing all animal protein, as vegans do, is a very tough lifestyle to do healthily.

All these things, as Phil notes, are driven more by culture and innate tastes than any rational or ethical analysis. Many cultures have no problem with eating land-based arthropods (fried locusts, anyone), but I can’t stomach them unless they come from the water. And it’s not just the size.

I hope that we aren’t far from technology that allows a filet mignon to be grown in a vat, which will resolve a lot of these issues once and for all.