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Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

theguardian.com

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Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#51

Post by paganel »

sdoering wrote: post #42
rorrr2 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the opposite, I love meat, but hate the animal suffering. Even if it tastes half as good and costs around the same, I will switch.

Maybe, just maybe buying animal-products, where the animals didn't suffer, where they were raised species-appropriate, would help, as it would be a ecological signal as well. If more people would do that, a lot more incentives would be there, to not let animals suffer just for human consumption. Since I switched to only eating animal products, where I know, how the animals lived, I do eat a lot less meat. i do pay a…

> Maybe, just maybe buying animal-products, where the animals didn't suffer, where they were raised species-appropriate, would help, as it would be a ecological signal as well.

This is very hard to do in most of the "first world" places because agriculture or raising animals doesn't scale that well unless you do it on an industrial scale.

Now, you and me and a couple of others maybe can afford to pay extra for meat products, but for the vast majority of people who expect a shawarma not to cost more than 2-3 euros the reality is bleaker.

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#52

Post by mistercow »

[deleted] wrote: post #22
Goronmon wrote: post #3

Does it taste like despair? Seriously though, that's always my first thought when I read a story about something like this. It's like my brain can't help but cringe of the thought of eating something made this way, even if it's irrational.

[deleted]

Do factory farms not give you the chills?

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#53

Post by codev »

hawkharris wrote: post #25

Do British newspapers not capitalize the word Internet? I know all American papers capitalize it because it's a proper noun. I'm wondering if that's just a recurring typo in this article or if British journalists follow a different convention.

The Guardian is pretty progressive in style terms. I think there's an increasing tendency to write it as internet and they're closer to the cutting edge than a more conservative (style-wise) newspaper like the NYT. Here are their capitalisation rules:

http://www.theguardian.com/styleguide/c#id-3043710

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#54

Post by VLM »

spodek wrote: post #8

We have a lot of entrepreneurs here. Why don't we start with an easier lab-grown animal product than something we ingest? How about lab-grown fur coats (EDIT from evilduck's comment: or lab-grown leather for clothing, furniture, shoes, etc)? Who wouldn't want to wear a "mink" coat created with no animal pain? Develop the technology on something we don't have to eat, along with the associated health risks and sensitiv…

One huge problem is the fake fur marketplace is already saturated with fake fur manufactured directly industrially rather than your alternative of industrially manufacturing skin which then grows natural fur, sorta. Its about a century old industry and reasonably stable market (well, as stable as women's fashion industry can be, anyway. Its demand is not nearly as stable as, say, coal demand.)

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#55

Post by smackay »

spodek wrote: post #8

We have a lot of entrepreneurs here. Why don't we start with an easier lab-grown animal product than something we ingest? How about lab-grown fur coats (EDIT from evilduck's comment: or lab-grown leather for clothing, furniture, shoes, etc)? Who wouldn't want to wear a "mink" coat created with no animal pain? Develop the technology on something we don't have to eat, along with the associated health risks and sensitiv…

Synthetic fur is just going to re-ignite demand for the real thing. It might not be socially acceptable (perhaps) and only the wearer would know for sure but that's a battle that should not need to be fought again.

Also, historically speaking, when it comes to fashion, pain and suffering of animals has never been anywhere on the list of concerns of those involved. It took many, many decades for it to become an issue.

As suggested elsewhere, lab-grown leather might be a more laudable goal, particularly if a way to avoid using the myriad of toxic chemicals could be found. Lab-generated milk would also be a win, but that might undermine the "breast is best" campaign which again took a long time to wage, but the idea probably has merit.

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#56

Post by dredge »

hawkharris wrote: post #25

Do British newspapers not capitalize the word Internet? I know all American papers capitalize it because it's a proper noun. I'm wondering if that's just a recurring typo in this article or if British journalists follow a different convention.

The Guardian's style guide[1] has it in lowercase, as does the BBC News[2]. Reuters[3] is slightly more nuanced:

  Capitalise as a noun, lower case as an adjective e.g. internet banking, internet cafe.
[1] http://www.theguardian.com/styleguide/i

[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/collegeofjournalism/how-to/news...

[3] http://handbook.reuters.com/index.php?title=I#Internet

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#57

Post by jdietrich »

spodek wrote: post #8

We have a lot of entrepreneurs here. Why don't we start with an easier lab-grown animal product than something we ingest? How about lab-grown fur coats (EDIT from evilduck's comment: or lab-grown leather for clothing, furniture, shoes, etc)? Who wouldn't want to wear a "mink" coat created with no animal pain? Develop the technology on something we don't have to eat, along with the associated health risks and sensitiv…

Because it would be orders of magnitude more difficult. Muscle tissue is relatively homogeneous and has a far simpler structure than skin and hair folicles. Minced meat has had most of the complex macro-structure destroyed by the process of mincing, so it's easier still to imitate than whole pieces of meat.

There is also a very limited market for these products, as there are many satisfactory substitutes to leather and fur. Synthetic materials have replaced or augmented natural materials in most of the textiles industry, because they can offer superior properties.

I think a far more interesting development is Beyond Meat, who make a wholly plant-based chicken substitute that is remarkably realistic.

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#58

Post by rattray »

keiferski wrote: post #38
rattray wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is certainly the prevailing wisdom, but I disagree actually. The tech to get in-vitro meat to a point that's just objectively more palatable, healthy, and inexpensive than traditional meat will be incredibly complex. On the order of Musk's work at Tesla, or greater. But once it surpasses that point, no amount of bad marketing could keep it from being commercially successful.

Maybe, but this just reminds me of the whole "Pepsi vs. Coke" or "Android vs. iPhone" tests. Just because people rationally understand that synthetic meat is the same/better than traditional doesn't mean that they'll run out to buy it.

True. And in-vitro meat will probably never dominate the market. But Android and Pepsi both sell quite well.

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#60

Post by VLM »

3825 wrote: post #50
rorrr2 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Synthetic diamonds are actually not cheap at all, maybe third of the price of the real ones. I expected them to be dirt cheap when shopping for the wedding ring.

I am not surprised. I'd expect the "jewellery-grade" synthetic diamonds to have the same artificial inflation of price that we see in natural diamonds. I would imagine industrial diamond dust has a different cost.

"I would imagine industrial diamond dust has a different cost."

I have a tube of diamond lapping compound somewhere in my basement shop. Dirt cheap because its full of inclusions and not clear.

They generally don't use jewelry grade diamonds for industrial work, although to manipulate the market I suppose anything could happen.

I was motivated enough to check amazon for the stuff I have and you're probably doing something wrong or weird if you're paying more than $3/gram delivered. One problem with buying a 5 gram plastic syringe of diamond lapping paste for $5 is the plastic syringe and shipping and handling probably cost a significant fraction... I would bet on industrial 55 gallon barrel scale its under $1/gram.

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