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Launch HN: Micro Meat (YC S21) – Technology for scaling cultivated meat

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Re: Launch HN: Micro Meat (YC S21) – Technology for scaling cultivated meat

#131

Post by yurishimo »

liuliu wrote: post #109
rs999gti wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 5) We have not tasted it yet, but we will very soon! You need double blind taste tests. It doesn't matter if cultured meat is good for the planet, if Joe Sixpack won't eat cultured meat because it tastes bad or has weird non-meat properties and textures, then your product will get no traction

Beyond and Impossible is doing well. Like solar, replacement would be harder sale. Focus on uniqueness, specific use cases probably better.

This has been my experience. I'm pretty happy with more processed lab meat. Burgers, chicken nuggets, etc.

If the texture/experience of chicken breast or a filet mignon can be perfected though, then we're talking about mass adoption on a global scale.

I do wonder if this means a potential end to cooking methods like BBQ. The skeleton of the animal plays a huge role in that cooking environment, I wonder if we can replicate it as well?

Looking forward to the future!

Re: Launch HN: Micro Meat (YC S21) – Technology for scaling cultivated meat

#132

Post by 8ytecoder »

wk_end wrote: post #128
dennis_jeeves1 wrote: post #125

Will be down voted for this. But here are my unsubstantiated comment: If lab meat becomes equivalent in quality to animal meat the sum total energy will exceed the energy required to obtain animal meat. It's difficult to beat nature when energy efficiency is concerned.( same for for carbon capture). Also nature does it in the lest pollution manner that artificial processes will not be able to match. My argument is no…

Two things. First, there's no evolutionary pressure to minimize pollution, so I don't know why you'd assume that "nature does it in the lest pollution manner [sic] that artificial processes will not be able to match". Secondly, even if nature is somehow more efficient than science can ever match for running an entire living creature, that's not what lab meat is doing. Almost everything an animal needs to do - think,…

Evolution doesn’t prioritise efficiency, in fact. Evolution prioritises the basics for survival and is highly resistant to change. Change happens only when the environment changes and survival is at stake. That’s when the traits that helps in survival become dominant - because anything without it gets killed.

Re: Launch HN: Micro Meat (YC S21) – Technology for scaling cultivated meat

#134

Post by yurishimo »

allisdust wrote: post #91
newaccount74 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who have never heard of FBS, the "ethical concern" is that FBS is made by slaughtering pregnant cows, cutting the calf fetus from the cow, and then draining the blood from the fetus by sticking a needle in its heart. When I first read about that I was a bit shocked, even though I'm not a vegetarian and have even worked with FBS during a lab at university, blissfully unaware how they made that yellow fluid.

Wow. And I thought a komodo dragon eating a pregnant deer with fetus was the worst I have seen or imagined. Ethics aside, how do the people doing the procedure stand it without going crazy.

I'll answer your question, but it's really pretty simple. It's the same way that people have done all sorts of terrible things since the dawn of man.

Someone had to slaughter the livestock. Hunters ran down animals and killed them when they became exhausted, and to be a bit more blunt, we kill each other in wars and senseless violence every day. Look no further than our current conflict in Ukraine to see what that's like, even amidst our advanced society.

Humans have an enormous capacity for empathy and kindness, but we're also capable of some truly horrific acts if the circumstances require or demand it.

Re: Launch HN: Micro Meat (YC S21) – Technology for scaling cultivated meat

#135

Post by exdsq »

satvikpendem wrote: post #112

To those wondering why lab-grown meat instead of going vegan: People are driven by incentives. People like meat, so instead of asking them to stop eating meat, which most won't do, make it a better option that fits with whatever the asker's goals are. In this case, you'd want people to care about animals or decrease environmental effects, so the way to do that while also considering people's incentives of loving meat…

I wonder if there will be a category between vegetarian and vegan where it consists of vegan & lab-grown, so no animal is that impacted (it's my understanding lab grown is far better than current practices in the dairy industry, for example).

Re: Launch HN: Micro Meat (YC S21) – Technology for scaling cultivated meat

#136

Post by shafyy »

Nathanael_M wrote: post #95
shafyy wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Following that logic, eating lab-grown meat will is also a behavior change. So, my point still stands.

I didn't say it wasn't a behaviour change. This was a response to your statement that your solutions didn't demand behaviour changes, when they both demand significant behaviour changes. My argument, which I have yet to state in this dialogue, is that lab grown meat offers the opportunity to provide an experience very similar to eating "real" meat at a lower cost to the consumer, thus making it a viable alternative i…

Fair enough. But the reality is that lab grown meat doesn't exist, so we are not certain how it will taste. Plant-based meats have come a long way in the past 5 years. Let's see where they are in another 5 years, at which point lab grown meat still won't exist at a scale and price point that's available to the mainstream consumer.

I don't have anything against people pursuing lab grown meat research. I'm just a bit pissed that "futuristic" solutions get so much more mainstream media attention than practical solutions that already have an impact today.

Re: Launch HN: Micro Meat (YC S21) – Technology for scaling cultivated meat

#137

Post by jallen_dot_dev »

armchairhacker wrote: post #118
satvikpendem wrote: post #112

To those wondering why lab-grown meat instead of going vegan: People are driven by incentives. People like meat, so instead of asking them to stop eating meat, which most won't do, make it a better option that fits with whatever the asker's goals are. In this case, you'd want people to care about animals or decrease environmental effects, so the way to do that while also considering people's incentives of loving meat…

It’s even simpler than that. There are some people who simply don’t function as well when they don’t eat meat. “But I’m vegan and I do just fine, in fact it I feel better then when I was eating meat”. I don’t doubt you, but I also don’t doubt the ex-vegans who tried and tried, but just felt awful and tired until they reintroduced meat. Different people have different metabolisms, and some people just can’t properly d…

Why does a food need to contain 90% or 100% protein? I think many people vastly overestimate how much protein they need.

Re: Launch HN: Micro Meat (YC S21) – Technology for scaling cultivated meat

#138

Post by d15s »

nopnop77 wrote: post #129

Well, those PhD guys don't even know that eating same cells all time would kill our species ? We need to assimilate different DNA from each plant, each animal, to keep evolving our own one and avoid diseases. It's basic and this is why this kind of stuff don't cross some borders. Focus on reducing meat consumption instead.

they can proliferate different cells, changing the starting sample every now and then, animals would still evolve and they could just do a new biopsy

Re: Launch HN: Micro Meat (YC S21) – Technology for scaling cultivated meat

#139

Post by paulyasi »

Nathanael_M wrote: post #69
paulyasi wrote: post #65

Stop before you destroy the planet and people with unsustainable fake food. Cows are an important part of the carbon cycle. https://www.sacredcow.info/

This seems wildly alarmist. I'm not sure anyone's arguing for the complete removal of cows from the ecosystem. I'm also confident people won't stop eating real beef, even if factory farming is reduced and real beef becomes slightly more novel.

Yes it is alarmist for a reason. We have about 60 to 100 years of topsoil left unless we get cows and ruminant animals to help rebuild it.

Re: Launch HN: Micro Meat (YC S21) – Technology for scaling cultivated meat

#140

Post by d15s »

Excited for what's to come, best of success in your endeavor.

Looking at the comments they're a good insight into the challenges of what you're aiming to do. Don't get distracted by the criticism, you're solving for it.

"Just become vegan/vegetarian, don't waste your time creating new meat". If our civilization has the resources and talent to make what you're doing happen, then why not? It'll definitely help someone somewhere. Also, this could potentially have future applications in the biomedical industry. We should embrace tech R&D.

"The processes are currently expensive or use non-scalable elements (food/FBS)". Of course, this has to be solved. One step at a time, besides they're not the only startup working on an area of the cultivated meat value-chain.

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