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.
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« Department of Provocative Imagery | Main | Now that is a cover! »
Guess which one...
Category: Creationism • Development • Science
Posted on: January 13, 2006 11:08 AM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: Ben | January 13, 2006 11:31 AM
Are they suggesting the McDonalds employees don't have immortal souls?
Posted by: Stephen | January 13, 2006 11:39 AM
McNuggets are made out of fetuses?
Posted by: george cauldron | January 13, 2006 11:42 AM
Well, in answer to the first question, according to Buddhism, neither. :�)
Buddhism is silent on the issue of McNuggets.
Posted by: Jeff Fecke | January 13, 2006 11:47 AM
Ha! McNuggets aren't even made out of meat! They're made out of "miscellaneous." And this still doesn't explain PYGMIES or DWARVES....
Posted by: PaulC | January 13, 2006 11:48 AM
"It takes all kinds of critters..." to make good McNuggets.
Posted by: paperwight | January 13, 2006 11:48 AM
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.
Posted by: george cauldron | January 13, 2006 11:50 AM
McNuggets are made out of Soylent Green, last I heard...
Posted by: Troy Britain | January 13, 2006 11:51 AM
Oh! I know, I know! [He said waving his hand excitedly in the air]
Posted by: No Nym | January 13, 2006 12:07 PM
I think this is a trick question. Everyone knows that unborn humans don't get a soul until the quickening. Next?
Posted by: RPM | January 13, 2006 12:08 PM
Tangentially related. Btw, Tom Toles is my hero.
Posted by: Greg Peterson | January 13, 2006 12:13 PM
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.
Posted by: Rodney | January 13, 2006 12:16 PM
Soylent McNuggets are PEEOOOPPPLLLEEE!!!!
Posted by: Alon Levy | January 13, 2006 12:29 PM
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.
Posted by: Who's Tommy | January 13, 2006 12:31 PM
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.
Posted by: jared hansen | January 13, 2006 12:48 PM
Next on quotemining sites:
PZ Meyers, noted atheist and evolutionist, suggests eating a human fetus!
Posted by: No Nym | January 13, 2006 12:53 PM
Quickening:
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/SFL/quickening.htm
What, no one else went to Sunday School?
Posted by: george cauldron | January 13, 2006 12:58 PM
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!
Posted by: PZ Myers | January 13, 2006 1:04 PM
Let me try...
It's supposed to work, anyway.
Posted by: PZ Myers | January 13, 2006 1:06 PM
Grrr. I punched the magic buttons, it's supposed to let me do this!
Posted by: PZ Myers | January 13, 2006 1:07 PM
Hmmm. I'll try to find out what's going on. Something is overriding my settings
, it seems.Posted by: PZ Myers | January 13, 2006 1:08 PM
Dang. I got the strike command to work, just not blockquote.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 13, 2006 1:09 PM
Well, I tried both 'quote' and 'blockquote', both of which work at various sites.
Let me know if you figure it out.
Posted by: george cauldron | January 13, 2006 1:11 PM
That was interesting. I did a preview of my message, made a few edits, posted, and it deleted my name! Never seen that before...
Posted by: Blackie | January 13, 2006 1:29 PM
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.....
Posted by: wolfa | January 13, 2006 1:33 PM
McFetus?
Posted by: sixteenwords | January 13, 2006 1:34 PM
Yes, yes and yes.
What ABOUT pygmies + dwarves?
Posted by: PZ Myers | January 13, 2006 1:38 PM
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.
Posted by: bryan kennedy | January 13, 2006 1:43 PM
Ha, what a great juxtoposition. It really does put this political debate in a cool science light.
Posted by: AJ Milne | January 13, 2006 1:45 PM
You people are sick! I find it disgusting, tasteless, yea, disturbingly callous for anyone to joke casually about eating McNuggets.
Posted by: bryan kennedy | January 13, 2006 1:46 PM
Oh yeah, and I think the one on the right is the chicken.
Posted by: Ctenotrish | January 13, 2006 2:17 PM
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 . . . .
Posted by: george cauldron | January 13, 2006 2:20 PM
If babies are descended from chickens, how come there are still chickens?
Posted by: BJN | January 13, 2006 2:24 PM
It takes a village to raise a good McNugget.
Posted by: Murray Rennie | January 13, 2006 2:24 PM
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.
Posted by: Chris Clarke | January 13, 2006 2:29 PM
PZ, it looks like the stylesheets for this page only define a blockquote style for the entry body.
Posted by: Jeff Fecke | January 13, 2006 2:48 PM
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.
Posted by: yorktank | January 13, 2006 2:59 PM
Baby Jesus is always crying about something.
Posted by: craig | January 13, 2006 3:24 PM
oooh, is this a new urban legend we can start? Forget the worms in hamburgers thing, human fetuses in McNuggets!
Posted by: Ms Kate | January 13, 2006 3:30 PM
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 ...
Posted by: Ms Kate | January 13, 2006 3:35 PM
OH, and I just can't resist asking as a follow on question:
Which came first, the chicken or the ape?
Posted by: Aaron F. | January 13, 2006 3:57 PM
"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... ;-)
Posted by: Mark Temporis | January 13, 2006 4:01 PM
Wait a few months! it's a well known fact that Babies are MUCH tastier than Chicken McNuggets!
Posted by: PZ Myers | January 13, 2006 4:04 PM
Mmmm...scrambled gametes.
Posted by: PZ Myers | January 13, 2006 4:06 PM
Hey, blockquotes are working!
Shhh. I think the developers must be paying attention to the comments.
Posted by: Ian H Spedding | January 13, 2006 4:13 PM
Immortal McSouls, Shirley...
Posted by: george cauldron | January 13, 2006 4:21 PM
How did you make the blockquotes work?
Posted by: DouglasG | January 13, 2006 4:21 PM
Some scrambled chicken gametes with some fermented infant cow food and some cured pig gluteous. Delicious!Posted by: Ms Margie | January 13, 2006 4:45 PM
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....
Posted by: andy | January 13, 2006 4:48 PM
Mmmm... fetus is some gooood eatin'. However, if you are trying to taper off, try Hufu.
It's the healthy people-eating alternative!
Posted by: Ms Margie | January 13, 2006 4:51 PM
Hufu- tastes like chicken!
Posted by: Jamie | January 13, 2006 6:53 PM
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.
Posted by: Moment of Science | January 13, 2006 8:00 PM
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.
Posted by: Grumpy | January 13, 2006 8:11 PM
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.
Posted by: Bill W | January 13, 2006 8:15 PM
I'm not going to hazard a guess untill I can get a look at the hearts
Posted by: Unstable Isotope | January 13, 2006 8:46 PM
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."
Posted by: Sage Donkey | January 13, 2006 8:49 PM
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.
Posted by: Apesnake | January 13, 2006 11:51 PM
This is all Blasphemy!!! Please keep up the good work.
Posted by: aiabx | January 14, 2006 12:23 AM
Where do you get Fetus McNuggets? McDonners?
Please excuse the momentary weakness.
Posted by: Alon Levy | January 14, 2006 4:21 AM
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.
Posted by: 7feet | January 14, 2006 11:24 AM
The mcNugget taste test makes it easy. One tastes like chicken, the other like pork...
Posted by: PZ Myers
|
January 14, 2006 11:27 AM
I suspect that at that age they both taste mostly like gooey mucopolysaccharides, with no texture.
Hey, just like McNuggets!
Posted by: george cauldron | January 14, 2006 11:27 AM
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.
Posted by: Mike Fox | January 14, 2006 11:38 AM
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)?
Posted by: Alon Levy | January 15, 2006 2:42 AM
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.
Posted by: Ethan Rop | January 15, 2006 9:19 PM
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.
Posted by: jackd | January 16, 2006 9:24 AM
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.
Posted by: Ed
|
January 21, 2006 10:27 PM
Next on quotemining sites:
PZ Meyers, noted atheist and evolutionist, suggests eating a human fetus!
Almost. Go see: http://www.imago-dei.net/imago_dei/
Posted by: Mumon | January 23, 2006 8:35 AM
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.
Posted by: dug_in | February 14, 2006 3:46 AM
Nine out of ten cannibals agree: vegetarians taste better!
Posted by: grendelkhan | February 7, 2007 5:34 PM
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.