I think fictional examples of these speculative technology would make better examples — perhaps these ideas could be cited if this was converted from a conversation.

• Quite aside from wanting to save money, there is work on technologies to create artificial meat ala Star Trek: The Next Generation. Right now all they can do is create extremely tasteless slabs of protein, but with some work completely artificial meat that is both nutritious and delicious may be possible.

  • One alternative is extreme factory farming were genetically modified animals just stand in place with a tube shoved down there throat, and have no cognitive centers in their brains so as to conserve energy and put all their resourses toward growing. Also has the added bonus of making them unable to feel stress, which decreases weight gain, and unable to harm themselves or other animals. I find this to be awesome, no really I'm serious.
    • Or you could simply grow animal muscles for consumption the same way they grow skin from a sample; have some sort of basin where the cellular reproduction is eased up. You could add up whatever nutriment you want to the meat, and make it as tender/hardened as you wish with electrica shocks. Funny though, most people I talk to about this idea are disgusted.
      • The main problem with "vat-grown meat", so to speak, is that even if you were able mimic the effects of exercise with electric shocks, it still won't produce anything like a steak. It'd make a good source for ground beef, though.
    • Although some find it scary.
  • The per capita meat consumption of the world is going up though so I don't think this will happen for awhile.

Moving this to the discussion page: the fine details of Bonobo Biology is not really pertinent given they aren't examples of the trope.

• Bonobos are commonly mistakenly believed to be pure herbivores when in reality, no African ape is.
  • Pop anthropology tends to have a lot of these.
  • Bonobos are a hell of a lot more peaceful than their cousins, the chimps, but so is pretty much anything. Chimps eat babies.
    • Both Chimpanzee and human. A Chimpanzee will rip a baby from its mother's arms and eat it.
    • Interestingly, chimpanzees naive of human contact are far less violent. I wonder what that tells us?
    • That even stupid monkeys can learn something from the master, even if they'll never be as good at it as we are.
    • Wait, are you sure that is correct? What I've read about it, chimps stop eating babies after prolonged human contact with researchers of a friendly nature.
      • The above is correct. Chimapanzees eating babies is a behavior noted almost exclusively in WILD Chimps.