I sometimes get called a luddite, but I am honestly quite pessimistic about lab-grown meat. It seems like not that long ago we thought to "hack" unsaturated fats in order to give them a buttery texture. Fast-forward 20 years and it turns out biological systems are unimaginably complex, and trans-fats are quite probably inflammatory agents and carcinogens.
There's always some risk in innovation, but it seems like synthetic nutrition is an absolute minefield. It's not just the raw complexity of the field, either. It's also that much of nutrition is junk science, even in the peer-reviewed literature.
On a more conspirational note, I also can't help but to notice that the agro-dietary industry is a pretty low-margin business. It seems like driving up profit margins requires convincing people that existing foods are somehow unsuitable, and that "innovative" products are therefore needed. I think vegan and ecological sensibilities are being instrumentalized to this end.
In any case: this anonymous internet stranger plans on skipping the lab-meat fad.
There's always some risk in innovation, but it seems like synthetic nutrition is an absolute minefield. It's not just the raw complexity of the field, either. It's also that much of nutrition is junk science, even in the peer-reviewed literature.
On a more conspirational note, I also can't help but to notice that the agro-dietary industry is a pretty low-margin business. It seems like driving up profit margins requires convincing people that existing foods are somehow unsuitable, and that "innovative" products are therefore needed. I think vegan and ecological sensibilities are being instrumentalized to this end.
In any case: this anonymous internet stranger plans on skipping the lab-meat fad.