Whilst I don't have a strong view on the points you're making, why is this getting downvoted? It's a valid discussion. 

'To miss your quota and still have many rejected applicants sitting there seems way too high confidence in yourselves and your criteria' - bang on the money! And I agree this is an EA-wide phenomenon. I'm gonna go look up who you are now because I'm curious! 

I'll do all four of them if you like! 💪🏽

... given how much more productive it's possible to be now, I'm only half-joking. 

Thanks for the suggestion. I already did, and commented. 

I think you're right about the spin - there'll be an abundance of spin in every direction. In the end it'll come down to consumer choice, where I expect millennial and younger gens to embrace the new products quite quickly (within a decade, yes), whilst older folks take longer to adjust. I trust that, eventually, the moral arguments will actually prevail once people no longer see 'traditional' farming (which, as you say, is mostly factory farming in practice) as the only option for getting meat. 

Looking forward to revisiting this post later! 

Yes, and there are ample openings in favour of cultivated meat on either side, too. On the right, free market innovation + consumer choice. On the left, obviously, animal welfare and climate benefits (not to ignore the quiet majority in the centre who somewhat care about all of these things). I remain optimistic and look forward to seeing how things stand in the midterm future. 

What an interesting and nuanced article! I somewhat agree with many of your points, although I think we could bypass all of this by focusing on the opportunity of cultivated meat. That's really the only solution that matters for animal welfare, in my opinion. 

 

I expect you're right - they're gonna put up a fight of course. However, I think public trust in the media is relatively low following Covid etc. We're all becoming more aware of how unreliable our sources of info are. That could inadvertently buffer the impact of counter-cultivated lobbying. If an attitude of 'what you see is what you get' becomes more the way, and cultivated meat is the same as slaughter meat in all aspects perceivable to the senses, then I think it'll happen. Not as fast as I hope, not as slowly as you believe, but somewhere in between. I give it 10-15 years before it's on supermarket shelves. 

Cool video! And congratulations again on your podcast slam dunk of a fundraiser. 

I’d challenge the comparison with GMOs as a useful precedent for failure as I do think you’re being too quick there. The rollout has faced obstacles as you say, but the technology hasn’t been rejected wholesale. I agree that cultivated meat can avoid many of the stigma issues if framed effectively. For example, comparing like for like, I’d choose the image of the cultivation lab as you have, next to an image of a slaughterhouse. I’d put how European countries look from an airplane now, next to how the landscape could look (more forests, meadows, wild nature) with even a partial adoption of the new tech. 

There are also strong ethical and environmental arguments that make the stakes higher than for GMO’s. Even if adoption is slower than optimists want, incremental progress here will still prevent massive suffering, reduce emissions, land use, water use etc. 

‘When consumers buy food, they are not just buying calories, flavour, and nutrients, but also a feeling of nostalgia for their grandmother's cooking, a sense of being close to nature, and a belief that they are wholesomely sustaining their body and mind.’ I see what you’re saying, but you could easily play the semantics differently. Consumers are also emotional about the climate, being seen as progressive, and not being seen as ignorant. 

 I reckon most will give cultivated meat a chance.