NASA grants $125K to create a prototype of a universal food synthesizer
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Re: NASA grants $125K to create a prototype of a universal food synthesizer
#2A line from the first paragraph says it all:
Systems & Materials Research Corporation, just got a six
month, $125,000 grant from NASA to create a prototype of
his universal food synthesizerRe: NASA grants $125K to create a prototype of a universal food synthesizer
#3Sweet, but ending hunger is incompatible with profit, and this will therefore die a sad little death as it gets legislated into oblivion, if it gets anywhere near gaining traction (which it won't, you just know Monsanto and friends will run a massive PR campaign about how synthesised food is terrorism, GMO is freedom, etc.).
Re: NASA grants $125K to create a prototype of a universal food synthesizer
#4The author questions the tastiness of algae - I wonder whether he knows what Maki rolls are made out of. Ever tried Japanese or Korean seaweed soup? Easily one of the tastiest soups because of all the Umami flavor in Seaweed.
Re: NASA grants $125K to create a prototype of a universal food synthesizer
#5I feel like hunger is much more likely to be solved with innovative economic thinking than with innovative engineering. We should be able to grow enough food for everyone as it is. That's not really the issue. The issue is getting the economics worked out so that we do grow enough food, and so that we can distribute it to everyone who needs it without breaking all of the economies.
Re: NASA grants $125K to create a prototype of a universal food synthesizer
#6I feel like hunger is much more likely to be solved with innovative economic thinking than with innovative engineering. We should be able to grow enough food for everyone as it is. That's not really the issue. The issue is getting the economics worked out so that we do grow enough food, and so that we can distribute it to everyone who needs it without breaking all of the economies.
You are right on track with this comment, but I'd go one step further to say that we already do grow enough food. We just don't distribute it equitably, at all. The fact that hunger, malnutrition, and starvation still plague humanity, is a choice that we have made. The most powerful among us have effectively decided that not everyone deserves food.
Re: NASA grants $125K to create a prototype of a universal food synthesizer
#7I feel like hunger is much more likely to be solved with innovative economic thinking than with innovative engineering. We should be able to grow enough food for everyone as it is. That's not really the issue. The issue is getting the economics worked out so that we do grow enough food, and so that we can distribute it to everyone who needs it without breaking all of the economies.
Yes, this! People keep trying to solve a problem they don't understand, that doesn't really exist. We have enough food in the World to feed our population. Countries like North Korea, Somalia, Ethiopia, Congo have starvation problems not from a lack of food in this World but from monsters running their government that won't allow their people the freedom to live their lives.
In spite of a growing population, farm land in the USA is declining. "In 1990, there were almost 987 million acres in farms in the U.S., that number was reduced to just under 943 million acres by 2000, and then reduced to 914 million acres in 2012." http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/ag101/landuse.html
Re: NASA grants $125K to create a prototype of a universal food synthesizer
#8A line from the first paragraph says it all: Systems & Materials Research Corporation, just got a six month, $125,000 grant from NASA to create a prototype of his universal food synthesizer
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Re: NASA grants $125K to create a prototype of a universal food synthesizer
#9Food sustainability is my passion area. Although the technologist in me thinks this is an awesome endeavor, the sustainability advocate in me thinks this is a step in the wrong direction. Agriculture is an area that I think needs to stay relatively low-tech. However, the cultural boundaries preventing that are pretty massive.
Re: NASA grants $125K to create a prototype of a universal food synthesizer
#10Sweet, but ending hunger is incompatible with profit, and this will therefore die a sad little death as it gets legislated into oblivion, if it gets anywhere near gaining traction (which it won't, you just know Monsanto and friends will run a massive PR campaign about how synthesised food is terrorism, GMO is freedom, etc.).
The materials for this still need to be grown. They just have very long shelf lives.