wax_worm_futures [comrade/them]
Bugs are not a particularly efficient protein source, and neither am I.
When I die I wouldn’t care if bugs ate me. But I have the (cursed?) ability to dread my own death or other forms of my undoing. I can distinguish myself aesthetically and behaviorally from every other member of my species. I can do this because I have a CNS with millions of thousands of neurons, not just a few thousand.
Who’s to say that a carrot or a nice allium doesn’t want to die? You have to draw the line somewhere, and I draw the line at having a brain that is developed enough to recognize specific individuals, solve problems, conceptualize itself and others.
For a good-faith discussion on the subject, see @Owl’s comment and the exchange there.
A friend of mine was studying environmental science. Then she realized the planet was on fire and necessitated urgent means, so she dropped out and got into pipeline struggles.
I was studying one of the natural sciences; my life got bad and I dropped out, and got into local activism and organizing, while starting out late from the bottom rung. Now I’m putting my knowledge of biology and math to good use to make a workers’ coop growing bugs.
Both of us are into natural building and permaculture and we’re currently collaborating on a project of growing communes.
If you’re good at something, and you’re on track to a degree, stick to it and finish; it will give you options. You’re most likely not going to be offered a “non-capitalist” or “non-imperialist” option. To unlock those you have to color way outside the lines and/or get a little lucky. For some time you may have to be satisfied with doing good with your income and spare time.
I am not concerned about farmed insect welfare the way I am concerned about farmed vertebrate welfare. For one thing, it’s dubious as to whether insects have any feelings beyond “something is appealing” and “something is going wrong”. For another, mostly due to their size, it’s a lot easier to provide an insect with everything it needs to live well. Some larvae are well-accustomed to squirming all over each other while they eat plant matter and fatten up for metamorphosis. Keeping birds and mammals in enclosures 1.5 body lengths long, though, or in barns where they barely have enough room to stand, is fiendish.
Years ago I had my first taste of roasted spiced crickets and cricket cookies. We’d have to become an order of magnitude more efficient to be able to make them a major part of people’s diets, though. But I’m not saying it’s impossible.
The era of fucking around is concluded and the era of finding out is yet to come; now is the time of monsters
I spend all day in a conference room with Satan, telling him what good ideas he has and how epic his memes are.
Mealworms taste true to their name: kinda bready, but not as good as bread. Texture is a bit of an issue. Superworms taste more bitter and sooty, like a mix between oysters and an odd kind of smoke seasoning. I haven’t eaten any wax worms yet, sooner or later a coworker will dare me to eat one and I’ll take them up on it.
The smell of these 2 bugs is usually somewhat indicative of what they taste like.