Ranma Al'Thor wrote:

I must with regret, launch a barrage of criticism at this story, with the
understanding that I am not a specialist in any of the things I'm talking
about, so I could be wrong...

You're just getting back at me for all the nasty things I said about
DnU, aren't you?  ^_^   Okay, just kidding.

I find it implausible that a virus could be created that would only slay
livestock.  Most viruses are confined to single species.  Of course, they
could also create multiple viruses for different species, which would be
more plausible.

Well, we are talking about twelve years in the future.  If you consider
how vastly technology has imporved between 1984 and now, think of how
it'll be in 2008.  Especially in genetics.

Also, AIDS isn't a very good analogy.  

It wasn't meant to be an analogy in terms of how it kills, but in how
difficult it is to find a cure.

Also, if it spreads so quickly and is so unstoppable, I'm rather 
surprised it didn't escape their labs while they were still trying
to develop it.  (A la the Stand...)  

Well, I think minimal precautions can go a long way towards preventing
unwanted spread of the virus too soon.  I don't think this is too big a
stretch of the imagination.

Basically, this virus stretched the bounds of believability too far for
me.  If nutcases could create that...why couldn't/haven't nutcases
unleashed some super human slaying virus in this future?  

Ever seen the movie "Twelve Monkeys"?  The postulate exactly that
scenario.  My hope is that those with access to the technology to
produce such viruses can be detected for signs of homicidal tendencies. 
There is a difference between someone who is fanatical about
vegeterianism and someone who wants to kill every human being on the
planet.  I've met several of the former who appear quite normal
otherwise.  I have yet to meet any of the latter (unless they're hiding
it from me... <shudder> ).

Genetics research at this level is expensive and delicate, and I'd 
expect it to continue to be so, at least at the level of creating 
super-viruses...

My rationale for this (I intended to include it in the story but
couldn't find a convenient way to do so) is that someone who knows how
to create such a virus also can engineer it in such a way that it can
hide its tracks - i.e. destroy itself as soon as the cattle is dead,
mutate to a seemingly innocuous form until it comes in contact with a
certain kind of DNA, etc.  That was why finding the lab was so important
- if they could see how it was made, they'd be able to find a cure
quickly.  Now, it's like seeing a bottle of beer come out of the brewery
and trying to find a way to recreate it without being able to see inside
the building.  'Taint easy.

Second level of comments:
The world eats vast amounts of meat, but we're not as economically
dependent on it or as nutritionally dependent as this story depicts it.
For one thing, much of the world's population doesn't eat much meat,
because meat is expensive.

This point I can't argue because I don't know the facts.  You may be
right.

The real problem would be the sudden loss of the economic value of the
crops grown primarily to feed animals...and the loss of domestic animals
involved in food production, rather than as food.

I tried to touch on the fact that it was the perception of shortages,
rather than actual shortages, that was causing fear and panic.  Also,
the economic downward spiral caused by the loss of a major industry has
its effects, aslo.  You're right, though, in that I mostly concentrated
on the loss of the meat itself.

And Pigs would not be able to replace THOSE needs.  Pigs are good for one
thing:  Eating.  Pigs don't pull plows, provide large quantities of milk,
etc, etc.  They are the most efficient source of meat, but many of the
animals slaughtered by this virus met other needs as well (Especially
cattle)

I do find it hard to believe that animals are used to produce food other
than through their own bodies.  Even in the most economically
disadvantaged country, you'll find plenty of tractors.  Those that do
use animals to grow crops don't produce enough food to really make a
difference - most crops are grown with the use of machines.

Imagine a world without wool, leather, or draft animals?  Starvation
wouldn't be a problem in the Us and rich countries...And the harvest
already planted would be gatherable in in the poorer ones...it would be
the next year when the ability of third world farmers to plant crops
would be crippled by a lack of draft animals that all hell would truly
break loose...

I did indicate that the world is still reeling from the after-effects of
the virus - I didn't want to indicate that pigs magically solved all the
problems.  Just most of the major ones.

Of course, farming might be more universally mechanized by that point,
but then the loss of these animals has less of an impact, as the animals
dwindle in importance.

Exactly right; the only animals alive are those that are used for meat.
This enhances their importance.

Also, if scientists could clone pigs in vast enough quantities to save
the world from starvation, why couldn't they do the same with fish?
Either they shouldn't be able to supply the pigs fast enough to make a
difference (What about transportation for all these pigs, etc...), or
there seems to be no reason they couldn't have  just started bulk cloning
fish.

The cloning vats are only providing breeding stock; it's the rest of the
world that's gotta take those breeders and produce meat providers from
them. I had Dr. Johnson comment on this - that the world could take a
few thousand pigs and turn them into millions.

The vats couldn't produce nearly enough fish to feed the word - and what
about the chemicals necessary to grow all these creatures?  They could
only last so long. (I meant to have Dr. Johnson comment on this, but
forgot).

To reiterate:  the vats only produce the seeds that world uses to
replenish its crops (if you'll forgive me changing from the animal to
plant kingdom in this analogy).

(As a piece of writing, this is good as always, but as an academic, it's
my job to complain about these sorts of things :))

:)  Thanks for the kind words about writing.  I admit to taking the most
chances with this story; I somewhat feared an uprising of vegetarians to
appear at my door with pitchforks and torches.  I also made several
large assumptions that I hoped my readership would forgive; if I tried
to explain and rationalize them all, the story would quickly be bogged
down and lose its focus.  I hoped people would put their "Star Trek"
blinders on. (I mean really; how is it remotely possible that the
transporter works as it does?  Without even a receiving station, no
less.)  I hope for the forgiveness given to most sci-fi works:  In the
future, anything is possible.

John Walter Biles :  MA-History, Ph.D

Thanks for the comments, John.  ^_^

-Richard

sterman@sprynet.com
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/sterman