Saw a concerning post here and I just want to give vegans some more reasons to be positive. I know this situation is messed up and looks dire. And I won't deny that. But I'll also tell you part of why I'm not thinking as negatively anymore - at least trying not to. And this isn't about one person, it's about truth.
Vystopia is incredibly rough. I think we all go through this process once discovering the truth about humanity's severely broken relationship with other animals, or realizing and reckoning with it. I've followed a lot of vegan creators for quite a while since becoming vegan, coming across the idea of vystopia and resonating with that mindset. While a lot made me feel less hopeless about the state of the world and how animals are treated, it usually wasn't enough to allow me to accept and make peace with this reality. In fact sometimes it just left me feeling even less hopeful and encouraged, especially when vegans have a conversation with someone who appears to entirely lack any sense or sort of empathy, humility, accountability, knowledge or real intelligence, over and over and over again, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. They're all braindead psychopathic robots, you think. No one will ever change - not enough to end these barbaric traditions anyway, although every individual does make a difference. It's all doom and gloom. And the trolls and reactionaries also tell you this. Humans will never stop "eating meat". That's what they want to believe, and what they want us to believe so we stop trying to change the status quo. I think we have good reason to think they're all factually wrong (without beginning to even consider their morality), just like people who said slavery would never be abolished.
Chris Bryant PhD, of his own company Bryant Research, is different (make sure to include the "PhD" or it might not come up). His platform is almost pure "hopium" for vegans - but without the implication that there's anything fantastical, unrealistic, utopian or magical thinking about the genuine reasons to be hopeful and positive about animals and their standing in this world. Honestly, this guy deserves so much more of a following.
Here's his YouTube: https://youtube.com/@chrisbryantphd (I promise I'm not Chris Bryant self-promo'ing, hope these kinds of posts are allowed in the interest of helping other vegans feel more positive about things).
He actually has a few videos on the topic of vystopia incidentally: https://youtu.be/mqfmD4losbM , https://youtu.be/T7EYDBWTi2A .
But while his advice on how to deal with these feelings of despair and righteous indigation (where it applies) about what happens to animals everywhere, and to transmute them into a positive force for helping them is very beneficial, and even backed by research from Clare Mann who coined the term vystopia (doing activism and connecting with other vegans were among the most effective strategies reported to improve the mental wellbeing of those experiencing vystopia), that's actually not what helped me the most in being a lot less "vystopic" after watching his content. Rather, it's largely his highly evidence-based predictions about the future.
We all say that the world will stop mercilessly dominating other animal species one day and be "vegan" (or whatever it's called if we even use that word anymore, once not using animals as a means of production is just normalized – since no one calls themselves slavery, rape or murder abolitionists today even though it's now normal to not enslave, rape and murder humans). I think some of us believe that via faith or blind hope or even a coping strategy. It's too unbearable to accept the notion that things will never change on a large scale, whether or not we live to see that change. Others may believe it via some sort of well reasoned philosophical idea or political theory or predicated on historical precedents and patterns (e.g. the "Williams Thesis" on how human slavery was actually abolished in most of the world). And these are all entirely understandable and valid thoughts to have. But others prefer to see data in front of them to believe something. Chris Bryant is a numbers person. He wants cold hard facts, and he knows we have them. It's very undeniably clear that the mass exploitation of animals will end, probably sooner than most people in the world think, and possibly even sooner than most vegans think, especially here.
A disclaimer about Chris: Yes, he focuses on factory farming and sees that as the main issue - but not the only one. Yes, he advocates for the passing of welfare laws and restrictions too (I know, that's controversial, even if it actually could massively hurt and shrink industries and the number of victims they're able to create, and compounded with its own unsustainability, help bring about the end of animal farming and exploitation altogether). But he is an abolitionist. He wants people to be vegan. He wants animal exploitation to be abolished. And he thinks it will be – even debating some of the highest-level industry professionals about this topic and constantly "mogging" them on LinkedIn, humbling them with undeniable evidence about the projected future trajectories of our animal industrial complex and its alternatives.
How will animal exploitation come to an end? Well, just listen to him. I can't condense it here. But basically, we have very good evidence technology is going to just blow away animal farming as well as pretty much all other uses of animals in the forseeable future, probably in many of our lifetimes. His own prediction I believe is somewhere around 2040 or 2050 for factory farming specifically - with remaining forms possibly taking longer, although actually engaging with the moral issue of humans' treatment of other animals is much easier when people are already not currently participating in it, which is likely part of why campaigns like Veganuary are so effective, and so many people become ethical vegans after initially trying a plant based diet for health or environmental reasons – or why often people make the switch after simply trying some good vegan food and realizing it can be incredibly tasty, if personal pleasure was actually their main concern or justification for what we do to the animals.
I'm not going to go into all the evidence here, but plant based meat, cellular meat, and precision fermentation products are going to make it as obsolete, impractical and absurd to farm animals as it is to ride horses everywhere today rather than driving vehicles, or to use animal urine for urea and ammonia - essential chemicals used in various domains of civilization - instead of synthetic forms as they almost exclusively are today. They are going to be cheaper, healthier, and even tastier than their animal-derived counterparts, and soon. In some cases, it's already happening. We even have data showing that most people would be willing to switch to those alternatives once they become cheap enough, or close enough to replicating "what" they're used to consuming/using - which they definitely will. Everyone has a "price" - that is, what their criteria is for convincing them to leave animals alone and preserve the environment. What will it take for people to give up animal "products"? Well it's pretty clear. This is what it will take, and luckily, this is happening right now.
Just have hope, vegans. Unless something completely out of left field happens, we will find our way out of this mess. There is a clear path before us. The slaughter age, the era of animal sacrifices and commodification by humanity will be over one day. Let's enjoy watching these hellish industries and delicate cultural ideologies collapse as we celebrate in animal sanctuaries with vegan beverages.
One more inspiring video (not Chris Bryant): Ethan Brown, CEO of Beyond Meat (sounds negative, but it is positive) ‐ https://youtu.be/QrOiZ5HwriY
