idk man I think the mental gymnastics go the other way around here. You have to make a shit load of assumptions to consume human flesh safely and ethically:

the person being eaten consents to their body being eaten
the person has no family or each and every one of their relatives consents and is totally ok with their loved one's body ending up in a casserole
the person has no diseases that can be transmitted by consuming some or all parts of their body: prion disease (brain), AIDS, hepatitis and loads other blood-transmitted illnesses, to name a few obvious ones
there are no drugs or medications in the person's body that could be absorbed into your system (regurgitated meth, yummy!)
you have the means to effectively and safely process or cook the body yourself or we set up an entire new industry around mass human body consumption which sounds like the plot of a Stephen King novel tbh

As some have pointed out here, if eating human meat is your only available choice in an extreme life-or-death survival situation, it would have to do, but unless you also have the means to carve up and cook the body, you're actually going to consume more energy digesting the raw flesh than what you're getting in return. Humans make for rather poor food overall, that's a fact. I would back this up with some evidence but I don't feel like being put on a list for looking up the nutritional contents of human bodies lol

[–] Alice@beehaw.org 18 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I don't care for cannibalism but the second bullet doesn't sit right with me. I always wanted to be composted. My family will hate that, but I don't think it's their choice.

[–] LiamMayfair@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 day ago

Sure, that makes sense, but not everybody leaves a will behind or lets anybody know about their wishes when they die, out of ignorance, sudden death, there are a lot of reasons why you may die and haven't told anyone what to do. Happens a lot with organ donors, for example.

In lieu of the deceased's will, the relatives need to make a decision. And, IMHO, this whole cannibalism thing is a lot harder to wrap your head around than having your loved one's organs harvested to save somebody else's life, for example.

[–] NaevaTheRat@vegantheoryclub.org 6 points 1 day ago

Funerals are for the living, not the dead. I struggle to think of a good reason not to acquiesce to their wishes prior to dying, so as to make their grieving easier, given that yours will not matter at all then.

[–] Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 2 days ago

the person has no family or each and every one of their relatives consents and is totally ok with their loved one's body ending up in a casserole

Assuming your first condition is already met then nah, a person's own wishes as regards their own body ought to supersede those of anyone else

[–] iamtrashman1312@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

It already is the plot of a novel, and it's by Augustina Bazterrica, not that hack Steve