A reader sent in this little question:
Possible answers:
- Well, what if McNuggets have souls, huh? What do you think of that, smart guy?
- Neither have souls!
- “Good” and “McNuggets” in the same sentence?
- Let’s have a taste test and find out.
Guess which one…
Are they suggesting the McDonalds employees don’t have immortal souls?
McNuggets are made out of fetuses?
Well, in answer to the first question, according to Buddhism, neither. :�)
Buddhism is silent on the issue of McNuggets.
Ha! McNuggets aren’t even made out of meat! They’re made out of “miscellaneous.” And this still doesn’t explain PYGMIES or DWARVES….
“It takes all kinds of critters…” to make good McNuggets.
Also according to at least some variants of Buddhism, neither can be eaten, as under the principle of Right Action (as laid out in the five precepts), one ought not act so as to knowingly bring harm to a creature capable of feeling pain.
McNuggets are made out of Soylent Green, last I heard…
Oh! I know, I know! [He said waving his hand excitedly in the air]
I think this is a trick question. Everyone knows that unborn humans don’t get a soul until the quickening. Next?
Tangentially related. Btw, Tom Toles is my hero.
I don’t see why this has to be an either/or question: Can’t something have an immortal soul AND make delicious McNuggets?
I use the sweet souls of saints to butter my plain bread.
Actually, souls are crap, but sometimes it’s fun to sound evil.
Soylent McNuggets are PEEOOOPPPLLLEEE!!!!
I think this is a trick question. Everyone knows that unborn humans don’t get a soul until the quickening. Next?
No, ensoulment occurs at conception, unless impregnation resulted from incest or rape.
The fetus gets a soul at the Quickening? I must have missed Investigation of the propagation of soul essence through the syncytiotrophoblast. Can I get a journal reference please?
I thought the Quickening was when Sean Connery stopped coming around.
Same thing, maybe.
Next on quotemining sites:
PZ Meyers, noted atheist and evolutionist, suggests eating a human fetus!
Quickening:
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/SFL/quickening.htm
What, no one else went to Sunday School?
PZ Meyers, noted atheist and evolutionist, suggests eating a human fetus!
Well, I certainly hope he’s not recommending eating at McDonalds…
Shit! You can’t do blockquotes on this new server! THAT’S a step backwards!
Let me try…
It’s supposed to work, anyway.
Grrr. I punched the magic buttons, it’s supposed to let me do this!
Hmmm. I’ll try to find out what’s going on. Something is overriding my settings
, it seems.Dang. I got the strike command to work, just not blockquote.
Well, I tried both ‘quote’ and ‘blockquote’, both of which work at various sites.
Let me know if you figure it out.
That was interesting. I did a preview of my message, made a few edits, posted, and it deleted my name! Never seen that before…
This question was taken from the new “Creationist Theory” science curriculum. Its a test question. You will burn in hell if you get it wrong. Used to be, you would just flunk science…..
McFetus?
Yes, yes and yes.
What ABOUT pygmies + dwarves?
OK, which one is the pygmy, and which is the dwarf?
I notice no one has even tried to figure out which one is the chicken and which the human embryo.
Ha, what a great juxtoposition. It really does put this political debate in a cool science light.
Oh yeah, and I think the one on the right is the chicken.
Yup, the one on the left (human or some other primate) is about a Carnegie stage 12. See http://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/Medicine/BGDlab8.htm.
Follow up on comment by Alon Levy – what, infants that are the result of rape or incest don’t get souls?? Seems like insult on top of injury. Assuming there are souls, of course . . . .
If babies are descended from chickens, how come there are still chickens?
It takes a village to raise a good McNugget.
I dare say the one of the right is the chicken and the one on the left is the human.
As for eating mcnuggets…their quite good with fava beans and a nice chianti.
PZ, it looks like the stylesheets for this page only define a blockquote style for the entry body.
what, infants that are the result of rape or incest don’t get souls??
Of course not. Also not getting souls–the fetuses that either my daughter or my mistress are carrying. Their abortions are blessed, because they impact me.
Hypothetical abortions, however–especially those involving “those people”–they make baby Jesus cry.
Baby Jesus is always crying about something.
oooh, is this a new urban legend we can start? Forget the worms in hamburgers thing, human fetuses in McNuggets!
And if THAT isn’t unappetizing, think about the billions and billions of embryos that are scrambled each day for breakfast!
’tis all protein by and by …
OH, and I just can’t resist asking as a follow on question:
Which came first, the chicken or the ape?
“And if THAT isn’t unappetizing, think about the billions and billions of embryos that are scrambled each day for breakfast!”
The chicken eggs you eat for breakfast aren’t fertilized. Unless you’re a woman of… unusual tastes… ;-)
Wait a few months! it’s a well known fact that Babies are MUCH tastier than Chicken McNuggets!
Mmmm…scrambled gametes.
Hey, blockquotes are working!
Shhh. I think the developers must be paying attention to the comments.
Immortal McSouls, Shirley…
How did you make the blockquotes work?
Some scrambled chicken gametes with some fermented infant cow food and some cured pig gluteous. Delicious!
I’m new to your blog, linked to it via bitchphd… I like it that there are pictures of the people who are blogging. Not that I have anything against anonimity, it’s just nice to see fetal pictures of chix and humans! LOL Btw, my chix’s eggs are fertile thanks to a rooster we call T-Rex and they don’t taste any different because of it… When Mc Maggot’s markets embryo food stuffs, I’ll break down and buy some product for my dog! Although the cured pig gluteous is mighty tempting….
Mmmm… fetus is some gooood eatin’. However, if you are trying to taper off, try Hufu.
It’s the healthy people-eating alternative!
Hufu- tastes like chicken!
For extra credit, how ’bout an id of the pastel-colored chicken eggs laid by the Son of God for Easter, from which bunnies hatch? That would fool everybody.
PZ,
You inspired me to try my hand at Photoshop.
http://momentofscience.blogspot.com/2006/01/pz-meyers-immortal-soul-barbeque-sauce.html#links
Sorry my artistic skills were not quite up to the task.
This is probably the only thread to post this, but…
The illustration in the Profile box, above left, might be better captioned “…and this is him as a pharyngula stage embryo.”
At least, that’s how I read it, before I blinked.
I’m not going to hazard a guess untill I can get a look at the hearts
This reminds me of a friend of my husband. When asked if she was going to have children, she would answer “Oh, I like babies. I just can’t finish a whole one.”
The only ‘souls'(sp.) that count are the ones on the bottom of shoes, and neither of these specimens appears to have the correct attributes for the job.
This is all Blasphemy!!! Please keep up the good work.
Where do you get Fetus McNuggets? McDonners?
Please excuse the momentary weakness.
The embryo on the right looks like squid, because the color pattern. I had no idea one was supposed to be human and the other was supposed to be chicken.
The mcNugget taste test makes it easy. One tastes like chicken, the other like pork…
I suspect that at that age they both taste mostly like gooey mucopolysaccharides, with no texture.
Hey, just like McNuggets!
Um, can someone tell me how to do blockquotes on this new server? I’ve fiddled around with it and nothing I’ve tried works.
I’ve been curious for a while, and this seems like a good time to post this: So, what does a bunch of religious cynics like us think could be the/a biological basis for a soul? What assumptions should be made to narrow the search down (eg. only primates/humans have one, or it occurs at the quickening)?
I’ve been curious for a while, and this seems like a good time to post this: So, what does a bunch of religious cynics like us think could be the/a biological basis for a soul? What assumptions should be made to narrow the search down (eg. only primates/humans have one, or it occurs at the quickening)?
My answer is that souls are a myth, but that’s probably not what you’re looking for.
Not only is the chicken on the right, but I will even go so far as to hazard a guess that it is E4.5-E5.5.
For years I have pictured the McNuggets machine at McDonalds’ HQ as this giant apparatus with openings on either end and a conveyor belt running through. A whole live chicken goes in, there’s a brief squawk that ends abruptly with a buzzing noise, and assorted McNuggets come out the other side.
Almost. Go see: http://www.imago-dei.net/imago_dei/
Carter’s got a post critiquing this one, but frankly, I think it’s a cultural thing.
Ever read Mary Roach’s book Stiffs?
BTW, I have to not that if you loudly bring up the concept of a fast-food chain called “The Chirping Fetus” or “For Christ’s Steak” (you know, Ruth’s Christ-steak houses…) you’ll get the check quickly in a restaurant.
Nine out of ten cannibals agree: vegetarians taste better!
I’m surprised no one noted that (yes, it’s more than a year ago, but for completeness) Joe Carter quoted Jared above, went on to say that he didn’t really PZ would eat human embryos, but that, hey, PZ would probably eat human embryos. No, really.