161–170 of 350 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The ironic counter-ads will be viscious: "Be a real man! Risk getting sick from one of our real burgers! Each one is made from the hormone-pumped flesh of a real baby cow that never knew its real mom!"
So basically White Castle?
The price seems to be ~$3.90 to produce chicken breast. Given that I regularly find chicken breast in a store for $1.99, I'll assume that's still ~3x as costly as just farm raising chickens. It will be interesting if subsidies can change this though. The negative externalities of raising animals must be huge. The jobs tied up in these industries are enormous as well though.
I'm pretty sure that the poultry industry is already receiving major agricultural subsidies to get to that price.
ps. Not comparing wild ecology to human farming, just comparing traditional farming with lab-grown tech here.
I'd be very happy if could get meat that was cheaper, safer, cleaner, and didn't have animal cruelty issues. This is the future.
Also does anyone else here remember the beef vats in Call to Power, the civilization knockoff game? It really feels like I'm living in the future when I read articles like this.
> Future Meat Technologies says this facility requires 96-percent less freshwater than livestock production, as well as using 99-percent less land and producing 80-percent fewer greenhouse emissions. Even accounting for PR hyperbole, it is so apparent at this point that any country who chooses not to board this train will be at the mercy of those who do. This is a national security issue. We can choose to curse our y…
It is of course impossible to verify either way, but I am very sure these statistics of 96% savings in freshwater are total nonsense. Anyone who has ever cultured cells on any scale can attest to the amount of water needed at any scale in terms of washing, rinsing, diluting, sterilizing, feeding, etc. Moreover, we have seen time and time again, the reporting of extremely high numbers for water usage in beef and milk…
There is an enormous difference in scale and efficiency between a lab scale process and an industrial one. Researchers (myself included) do what gets the job done quickly, not necessarily balancing the budget at the same time.
I always wonder about the morality questions. This is like a lab experiment for subjective morality. For the sake of the experiment, let's assume the sci-fi writers are right, and eating animals will eventually be considered immoral. This is an extreme stance at the moment (hello PETA) but let's assume it will eventually be accepted as the only moral stance. How long will it be between the introduction of lab-grown m…
Another question is, if its banned to kill an animal for meat, for various animals, how long until they go extinct? Many are co-dependent on humanity for their survival at the species level... Or at the very least how will it affect their evolution?
But land has many other alternative uses. Until we value every one of those alternative uses less than we value preserving nature itself, we'll tend to use the land for something else.
Of course it depends on the land in question. Any land that is currently good for grazing and nothing should immediately be freed up once grazing stops being economical. Unfortunately, the land like that is not the most biodiverse -- it's rocky scrub, not forest -- but I'll be happy to see it added to the set of lands we don't want to mess with.
I always wonder about the morality questions. This is like a lab experiment for subjective morality. For the sake of the experiment, let's assume the sci-fi writers are right, and eating animals will eventually be considered immoral. This is an extreme stance at the moment (hello PETA) but let's assume it will eventually be accepted as the only moral stance. How long will it be between the introduction of lab-grown m…
I find it odd that people who truly believe in evolution, and that humans are just smarter animals, and that animals are also capable of sensing pain and emotion, can be deeply concerned (rightfully) about things such as trans rights, gender discrimination, etc. for humans (that are very high on "Maslow's hierarchy"), and yet are perfectly content to pay for meat they know was the product of an industry which is pretty horrific in its treatment of billions of cows, pigs, etc. a year.
Similarly, I have friends who regularly rail against the "wealthy" and how it's immoral to have so much money when people are suffering in poverty. Then the same day will go spend $200 on a handbag or $20 on a cocktail or $1000 on a weekend getaway to Hawaii without blinking, knowing full well those unnecessary purchases cost as much as several meals or vaccines for those less fortunate people that the "rich" should be taxed to help.
How do so many people act contradictory to their stated positions? Are they dishonest with themselves? Haven't thought it through? Or do people just want the world to be a better place... as long as it's not an inconvenience for them personally?
The price seems to be ~$3.90 to produce chicken breast. Given that I regularly find chicken breast in a store for $1.99, I'll assume that's still ~3x as costly as just farm raising chickens. It will be interesting if subsidies can change this though. The negative externalities of raising animals must be huge. The jobs tied up in these industries are enormous as well though.
5k burgers a day is a long way from mass production. It seems completely reasonable to expect a 70-90% price drop from scale. Until then selling at a premium to people who love meat but don’t want animals slaughtered seems like a viable. Where things get interesting is if it actually becomes cheaper than farm grown meat. Over half of all farm land is devoted to meat production, even a 50% switch to lab meat would hav…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have we had one of these "industry extinctions" in the last quarter century, particularly one at the scale of the meat industry? Our economy and workplaces are significantly different from what they were when horses were replaced by cars.
> Our economy and workplaces are significantly different from what they were when horses were replaced by cars. The 21st century isn't special and we weren't born a quarter century ago. The economy and our workplaces will continue to evolve, as they have since the beginning of time.
I always wonder about the morality questions. This is like a lab experiment for subjective morality. For the sake of the experiment, let's assume the sci-fi writers are right, and eating animals will eventually be considered immoral. This is an extreme stance at the moment (hello PETA) but let's assume it will eventually be accepted as the only moral stance. How long will it be between the introduction of lab-grown m…
I've considered stuff like this a lot lately, as there seems to be a lot of hypocrisy amongst commonly held positions (including mine). I find it odd that people who truly believe in evolution, and that humans are just smarter animals, and that animals are also capable of sensing pain and emotion, can be deeply concerned (rightfully) about things such as trans rights, gender discrimination, etc. for humans (that are…