Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 272 posts

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#141

Post by axblount »

fatjokes wrote: post #136
axblount wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you assuming that meat consumption is necessary?

At the very least some animal product is necessary (e.g., dairy or eggs). See: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/opinion/21planck.html Vegetarians can go ahead and argue that vegans are too extreme while vegans fire back that vegetarians are just vegans who lack commitment.

I am vegan and have been for about a year and a half. Animal products are not necessary for a healthy diet. That goes for adults and infants.

http://www.veganoutreach.org/enewsletter/20070523.html Crown Shakur did die because he parents didn't supply him with adequate nutrition, but there's no reason he couldn't have gotten what he needed on a vegan diet.

Plenty of children are raised on a 100% vegan diet and thrive just like children fed with animal products.

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#142

Post by moheeb »

asciimo wrote: post #125
ignostic wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may be right in this case (I couldn't find their methodology online yet), but it's just a MVP. They could easily make it without touching a cow beyond the initial cell sample. It's possible to feed the cells a synthetic culture medium, or something that doesn't come from the cow. I don't know what was done in this case. We also don't need to continually re-harvest stem cells from the cow. Depending on when they d…

The potential reduction of animal exploitation is so great that this vegan hardly cares how it comes into being. But I wouldn't eat it myself.

What about all the vegetables you're exploiting?

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#143

Post by Dylan16807 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #129
rorrr2 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bull. Shit. My wife is a vegetarian. I've tried probably 8-10 different brands of vegie burgers and chicken nuggets. They don't taste even remotely like meat. Some do taste alright, I admit. Another problem is price. You would think soy products would be cheaper than meat. Nope. So freaking expensive.

> You would think soy products would be cheaper than meat. Why would I think that highly processed products of the isolation and retexturing and reflavoring of soy products would be less expensive than meat, which is usually pretty minimally processed? The raw materials cost of the soy product might be lower (depending on what else is added for flavor and texture, even that might not be true), but you can't really ig…

Sure, it has to be processed, but you get an order of magnitude more food per acre when you remove the cow step. I wouldn't have expected processing to be the vast majority of the cost.

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#145

Post by wprl »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #138
wprl wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you consider the real costs of unsustainable, industrialized agriculture† a very different picture emerges. The convenience of industrialized, globalized, corporate food infrastructure doesn't outweigh the long-term costs. This basic misunderstanding of how food gets to your plate was featured prominently in a recent NY Times piece claiming the McDouble was the "cheapest, most nutritious" food ever. The upfront…

Did you just call it a cost that farm work would become more efficient and need fewer man hours for the same productivity?

No, mechanization isn't really an issue. Production and distribution are where the problems lie.

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#146

Post by moskie »

wahsd wrote: post #107

Mostly carnivorous guy here; I have started playing around with the use of tofu and mushrooms in stead of meat and have come to the realization that it is actually a lot easier to substitute them for meat. Another, even bigger realization I have come to is that it seems that my addiction, yes, addiction, to meat and meat having to be a minimum requirement for having any interest in a dish, is that it is really a psyc…

Right. In the long run, the "chicken in every pot" political slogan got us to this point, and now we're dealing the consequences. And are desperately seeking alternatives.

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#147

Post by ImprovedSilence »

wahsd wrote: post #107

Mostly carnivorous guy here; I have started playing around with the use of tofu and mushrooms in stead of meat and have come to the realization that it is actually a lot easier to substitute them for meat. Another, even bigger realization I have come to is that it seems that my addiction, yes, addiction, to meat and meat having to be a minimum requirement for having any interest in a dish, is that it is really a psyc…

>> Just think of how many meals have some form of meat in it. It's probably approaching 100% for most Americans that are not vegetarians.

Really? Neither myself, nor 99% of the people I associate with are vegetarians, but I'd say I AT MOST 50% of my lunches and 25% of my dinners actually contain meat (and maybe 7% for breakfast). Granted, I do consider myself a heath conscious eater, and thus eat lots of veggies and beans and veggies. But still, I'm nowhere near having meat in 100% of my meals. (Although I did enjoy a delicious flank steak with mango salsa last night.)

In my travels though, I have found that specific diets tent to be geographically dependent as well. Ie, I find rural areas in the US to be heavy on the meat and potatoes, with an almost irrational/religious fear of vegetables and anything spicy/with a little different flavor/texture, whereas in cities it's easy to get lost just trying all sorts of the different cuisines available. People who must have meat in their meals also miss out on lots of the fantastic flavors of non-carnivorous main courses available to them.

Re: Sergey Brin invests in synthetic beef

#150

Post by bayesianhorse »

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…

I don't believe that it would be easier/cheaper/better to make lab-grown fur over just artificial fur.
Post reply on HN