> a history of backing projects that sound as though they belong in science fiction movies.... mining asteroids... trips to the moon... driverless cars and... green energy projects.
So green energy is on par with trips to the moon?
Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef
61–70 of 272 posts
Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef
#62Earlier 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.
She's a lucky woman. :)
The idea was to get a much bigger identical rock for the same money.
Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef
#63The biggest challenge for synthetic beef will not be technology. It will be marketing. I'm glad Brin is investing, but I'd really like to see a marketing master like Richard Branson take the field on.
I don't think marketing will be a problem if you consider the industry has no problem selling crap that is made from far more distasteful things than synthetic meat. It initially won't be sold as "synthetic meat". It will be sold as "sausage", "hamburger" and countless other products of which the labeling isn't protected and which are basically "mystery meat" anyway. It has been done before, just look at the wide ran…
Well, as long as they make it clear on the label that their "hamburger" or "sausage" product is made from lab-meat, not real meat, I'm all for it.
Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why don't we start with an easier lab-grown animal product than something we ingest? Because it's a prestige product, Where "authenticity" counts? (e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_diamond ) Or perhaps because millions of animals are slaughtered each day to be consumed as food?
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.
Diamonds are supposed to be status object, allowing the owners to display their wealth. They wouldn't fulfill the goal if they were cheap.
Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef
#65Earlier 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.
When researching lab-made, I found them to be 70% - 80% of the cost of nats across the board. My jeweler told me that (at least for the brand he carried) DeBeers bought the company that had the technology and patents for creating them in the lab, and thus the prices will remain close to nats as they will not set them at a point where they erode pricing on nats. Based off my research, if the poster above you got his/hers at 30% of nat cost, I'd say that is a pretty great deal, and I'd have liked to have found it myself before I purchased mine for my wife.
I'm just happy that there is a humane alternative to blood diamonds. If there wasn't a lab-made option, I wouldn't have purchased a diamond at all.
Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef
#66Does 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.
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.
As someone who eats an entirely plant-based diet, it sounds like a terrible idea. If it tastes half as good as actual meat, then it will be much worse than even the cheapest, overprocessed soy protein 'burgers' in the frozen food section of the grocery store. Seriously.
Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
She's a lucky woman. :)
The idea was to get a much bigger identical rock for the same money.
Whoops, sorry. I thought the smiley made it clear I was just kidding around. Seriously, I don't blame you one iota, the De Beer's racket is an absolute crime.
Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef
#68Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef
#69Best quote from Sergey: "If what you're doing is not seen by some people as science fiction, it's probably not transformative enough"
Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef
#70Does 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.
Wow, not every day you get a Better Off Ted reference, especially when I'm rewatching that show on Netflix right now.