> Humanity has never -- in no culture, historical or modern -- eaten as much meat as the western man does now Absolutely incorrect. There are several well known groups of humans who survive off of a diet of principally animal products. edit -- apologized for snark I agree. In most places historically with good arable land, meat is not nearly as prevalent in a meal as today's Western diet. In many places, meat is pret…
You are right, and I edited me original comment accordingly
Sorry, I realize my reply came off a bit snarky and pedantic as well. I think my inner-neck beard was choking me.
...And what happens when we no longer need cows? It's not going to be happy fun time for the species, because as soon as there's not a reason to breed them then we'll have a few cows kicking around in zoos and that's it. Good for the environment, possibly, but bad for the species.
My prediction:
There will always be a market for real meat and real leather. If/when the major sources of the two are "not-real" the producers of real meat and leather will be seen as a luxury, so the remaining cows bred to produce meat and leather will be cared for well to produce high quality outputs. So the population will drop but those that remain will be bred to produce luxury goods and so be kept in better conditions.
A complete waste for $250,000. Lab meat? Why? Why would any one want to buy artificial, lab processed meat? Why do people insist on complicating food? Our supermarkets all already filled with things that can be barely classified as "food" and now we have this.
Well, it's a good indication you chose to make a throwaway account for that post, as it suggests that you yourself are aware to some extent how uninformed and ignorant the question is. But, to answer: These animals are brought up in very inhumane conditions -- in crowded spaces, with no light, no freedom. The whole process is unsustainable, what happens when the world population reaches above 10 billion and demand fo…
Its not a throw away account. So a better future is lab produced meat? I'm not saying that the current demand for meat is not bad for the environment. All I'm saying is food is something that is best not experimented with. Nothing good has come up with food scientists tinkering with food. We live in an age where food is seen as a combination of nutrients. We keep track of calories, we read a new study everyday about the benefits for this food/that food, each study contradicting the one before it. Surely, the ultimate solution to making food "better, healthier, cheaper, more environmentally-friendly." is a pill, which will have everything that the body needs. right? Thats what all this experimenting will ultimately lead to. Maybe your scientific mind finds artificial meat appealing. Ask you grandmother how she feels about it.