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If centaurs were real, would eating them be considered cannibalism?

PallasKitten

PallasKitten

Member
Jul 11, 2022
803
Since centaurs are half horse, half human, would eating one be considered "half" cannibalism, full-on cannibalism, or even cannibalism at all? Would it depend on whether you eat the whole thing? Would it be fine to only eat the horse part?

What about other mythical creatures that are half human or have human characteristics, like mermaids and harpies? Would eating them not be considered cannibalism at all because they're technically not human? Would it create some kind of black market where real human meat is actually being sold but it's being passed off as centaur meat or something, and people are unknowingly becoming cannibals?

It's 2:30am and my brain is torturing me with these stupid hypothetical questions, please help.
 
Ashes of Dreams

Ashes of Dreams

Fallen Guardian of Unshakable Resolve
Member
May 22, 2020
14,783
It would be full-on cannibalism. The "horse half" doesn't have a mind of it's own.
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,134
People eat monkeys and apes through most of the regions they're native to, so I think centaur is fair game.
 
Tabaxi

Tabaxi

Member
Nov 18, 2018
13,075
512504.jpg
 
lvl 99 Pixel

lvl 99 Pixel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,876
Not literally, but eating anything with human intelligence is still murder. The technicality seems redundant.
 
Tanaka

Tanaka

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,072
No. They're an entirely different species that happens to share a lot of features with the upper half of humans. At least that's what I'm going to be telling myself as I chow down on my Centaur Burger topped with Centaur back bacon.
 
AIan

AIan

Member
Oct 20, 2019
4,936
There should be a different term for eating intelligent races. Intelligism or something
 
Mekanos

Mekanos

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 17, 2018
44,423
We share almost 99% of our DNA with chimps, is eating a chimp cannibalism?
 
sfedai0

sfedai0

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,076
I mean , it dosent matter really. If Im eating a centaur, human half or not, its gonna be a dream so therefore Im free to do whatever the hell I want.
 
Junior Asparagus

Junior Asparagus

Member
Nov 27, 2017
1,290
I would think that they'd be a separate species if they existed, so I'd say no. But it'd probably be closer to it than any other species around right now, including apes.

Unless the only way these hypothetical centaurs existed is if you actually somehow graft or otherwise scientifically combine a human and a horse. Then it probably would be.
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,134
Actual human cannibalism increases the risk of severe diseases so it's not even necessarily just a moral thing, it's also a good health practice not to eat people. Be sure to ask your doctor before you try to eat anyone.
 
Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever™
Member
Sep 24, 2019
34,636
There sure is something depressingly human about a what if for a new species and it's about us eating it.
 
datamite

datamite

Member
Oct 14, 2021
48
My understanding is that deciding if centaurs are actually in the same species would depend on if humans and centaurs could inter-breed. I did a quick skim of the wikipedia page for centaurs to see if it mentions any having a child with a mortal and didn't see anything, but I'm not super familiar with greek myth, so I could totally believe it happens somewhere in there. Also centaurs obviously exist in lots of other fiction so for a given fiction, It would depend on if there's any canonical human-centaur children. If yes, cannibalism, if no, not cannibalism
 
RetroMG

RetroMG

Community Resettler
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
6,772
In my opinion, no. They're a human-like species, but not specifically human. The closest equivalent would be eating a gorilla.

That said, it would be close enough that I would say it's still gross. (I'd also argue that you shouldn't eat a gorilla.)
 
Capra

Capra

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,718
No offense but I feel like this is a "no shit." Same with fauns, orcs, kobolds, etc.
 
RiOrius

RiOrius

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,089
It would be frowned upon for the same reasons.

But you're right, it's Not Technically Cannibalism. If that's what you needed to hear to forgive yourself and go back to sleep, then there it is.
 
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