I'll go with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy answer and say the cow likely will offer me in person which cuts of meat I prefer. It's sole purpose in life is to be part of the food cycle. It knows that and it accepts it.

If they were smart enough to start protesting, I could see myself eating mor chikin.

I don't know if there's an IQ amount, but there's probably a dollar amount. The more expensive it gets, the less I'll eat, and then eventually I won't bother.

At the point where it consciously knows that we breed and slaughter them for meat. That would be my red line. I don't know what IQ that equals to.

The point at which it could collaborate with others and fight back.

Until then, it looks like meat is back on the menu, Boys!

I think your should stop eating any meat the moment you don't feel like you have what it takes to look at the animal in the eye while you kill it for consumption.

If you think you can't do that, then you should reconsider your meat consumption.

I'm approaching this point in my life and reducing consumption accordingly.

Cows can be moderately smart when raised as such. It's humans who selected the specific traits we considered more convenient for our needs, and breed them like that.

No smarter than they are now.

Well, some people believe that pigs are as smart as toddlers. So a cow would, at a minimum, have to be smarter than a pig.

Intelligence has nothing to do with it. Intelligence isn't even well defined or measurable. Things like IQ are designed for humans, so they would not be applicable to other beings. They're barely even useful for human applications.

It's an interesting question though. First, I'll ask myself why I eat beef in the first place.

• It's tasty
• It's relatively cheap
• Very nutrient dense, so it's easier to consume

Why do I not eat dogs or cats?

• They are not socially acceptable to consume
• They contribute positively to my life in other ways than being a food source

I'm pretty sure that a dog/cat could be dumb as a rock and I still wouldn't eat them because I'd still enjoy their company.

Now I do try to reduce the amount of beef I consume, but it's mainly for environmental reasons.

Basically, I wouldn't be able to eat anything that speaks (I haven't and don't intend to, but that's not what would prevent me from eating a "talking" parrot, for instance)

They're already smart enough :) but up close they're a burpy gassy mess, feels like a sentient bioreactor who is really fussy about what delicious grasses their friends found on the other side of the hill.

I think it should be mandatory for everyone to spend at least one day of their young adult life hunting, killing, dressing, and cooking. The experience will likely alter the person's entire outlook on life and meat in general.

I never forget that meat was a life that mattered; with a personality; good and bad days; life; experience; struggle it lost to me. It doesn't stop me from eating meat. I wish I had the ability to hunt for what I need. I know my own ethics, like when to take a clean shot, and only taking what I need. Animals in industrial livestock facilities are mostly managed by unethical criminals. None of us asked to be born in such an overpopulated world. Unfortunately, this is the impossible problem. If you are smart enough to see the issue of overpopulation, that is great, but even if you avoid having children, those that are not so bright will always enumerate.

When they're capable of doing a conversation with me.

They'll basically need to become smart enough to sue for their right not to be eaten and win before I stop eating them.

How low would my IQ have to be for you to let part of my omnivorous diet be meat ?

Would 80 do it ?

I guess my cutoff would be actual conversation. Unless they specifically ask to be eaten, ala the bit from Hitchiker's Guide, in which case I guess the sky is the limit.

But I just was wondering, what IQ/ability would make you swear off beef?

10% of the current IQ would probably be high enough.

Smart enough for them to stop being eaten. But at this point they'd have to have similar intelligence to ours, which means we'd probably be at war with them anyway.

I think people forget that nature is quite brutal. If humans stopped eating meat, millions of animals would still be killed by predators, illness, parasites, old age, accidents, etc.

If cows became intelligent enough to participate in society but we had lab grown beef, I'd eat it.