Folks in 2112 will be appalled that we...?

You’d have to explain what makes human beings different from other animals. I agree with choosing not to eat meat out of an ethical concern for animal cruelty, but really the problem is factory farming and large corporations. To say there is something inherently wrong or strange with eating another animal simply because they are a living thing is a poor argument and I don’t think we’re on any kind of path because of that brand of argumentation.

I think the “(who are not raised on farms)” part of your thought is crucial, there. People need to be much, much more involved in the food they are consuming. They need to be more concerned with how those things are taken care of, how they are treated, what they are fed, what kind of land they live on, what kind of killing practices are taking place. Cows, for example, have a mutual relationship with human beings through domestication. Our exploiting their bodies for meat is our problem and that most definitely does not need to be the case. Ditto with chicken, pig, etc. Eating them is nothing out of the ordinary and certainly not an ethical problem. No more than any meat eating creature.

Nobody should be eating meat seven days a week. It should be more like one day a week, or even less than that. And we shouldn’t just be eating the t-bone or the breast or ribs–we should be eating the liver, the tongue, the stomach, the heart. Everything, that is to say, should be used and eaten if it can be. And people should learn to cook those parts of the animal. I could go on about this but really all it amounts to is smarter eating practices, more education, and the end of cruelty means that people can ethically eat meat and should be doing so. It’s very healthy and very natural (to the extent that human systems of any kind, or even “nature” can be classified as “natural” anymore–which is another conversation).

As long as accidents happen, the issue will be a hot one. I think you’re way too optimistic; it’s like saying that there won’t be fire departments in 2112, because all buildings will be fire-proofed. I really doubt that; the occasional fire will still break out, and experts will be needed to deal with it. Same for dumb kids getting each other pregnant; it’s gonna happen. Even if all girls are temporarily sterilized at birth (and imagine the debate over that!) there would still be the occasional failure.

I’m rather afraid, though, that runaway climate change is going to lead to a much less tolerant world, not a more tolerant one. People will still be killing chickens for food…and we’ll probably return to the earlier forms of mass-produced “factory” chicken farming, because it is so much more efficient for space and energy. I don’t think we’ll go all the way down to a “Road Warrior” world, but I think we’ll go a few steps in that direction.