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Ask HN: Will you ever eat meat that is grown in lab?

13 points| Arthanari | 8 years ago | reply

What are all the bad events that can come along with any progress in this direction?

61 comments

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[+] Spoom|8 years ago|reply
Sure. I like meat, but if there's a version that I can eat that doesn't involved slaughtering animals, that's a net positive.
[+] Arthanari|8 years ago|reply
If it's not slaughtering animals then its not meat.

Its like suddenly some one comes and calls some thing meat n then we order 2 of those.

Vegetarian is a reasonable alternate if we don't want to slaughter meat. Meat like tasting vegetarian alternate is also reasonable. But lab grown meat is the most unnatural thing. How does eating a thing which is 99% unnatural constitute as eating food. Its just eating a thing.

There is a crowd which wants to avoid as much artificial things in food and eat natural food and there is a crowd which wants to eat 100% artificial thing like lab grown meat.

I wonder which crowd will win in the end.

[+] ajeet_dhaliwal|8 years ago|reply
Agreed. I’d prefer it if it otherwise the same (taste/nutrients).
[+] truesy|8 years ago|reply
I am not a vegetarian, but I would happily pay double to eat meat that doesn't result in an animal being killed. But it'd have to taste okay, at least, for me to make that jump. Doesn't have to be perfect, but has to satisfy a craving for a burger or something like that.
[+] Arthanari|8 years ago|reply
Why settle for the at least? when we can have the perfect one.

I think there are things beyond just craving, Y isn't it about eating the most healthy food?

If we care so much about "an animal being killed" then what to do to tigers and lions and other carnivores.

I think a lion eating a deer feels more natural than a man eating a lab grown thing.

Why this much push into loosing our nature? Apart from capitalism could there be any other reason?

[+] drchaos|8 years ago|reply
If it is tasty and affordable, why not? Almost everything we eat nowadays is already highly optimized through selective breeding over thousands of years, so adding lab-grown meat does not make our food less "natural" than it is already. On the other hand, lab-grown meat will probably use much less resources compared to traditionally produced meat, while not causing any issues with regard to (bad) treatment / killing of actual animals.
[+] atonse|8 years ago|reply
Yes, without a doubt. It takes many of the downsides of meat out of the equation (animal cruelty, environmental impact, use of antibiotics).

I don't know how the health effects would change though.

[+] Arthanari|8 years ago|reply
Don't you think a lab grown meat is something that is 100% antibiotics?

It is odd how one says Yes without a doubt to something that one eats, but also is aware of being unaware of its health effects.

It is very scary though...

Don't you think we should eat something that is guaranteed to bring good health to us...

[+] sidyapa|8 years ago|reply
I am waiting for the day when I can buy lab grown meat. I am a vegetarian since March 17, 2012 and boy do I miss meat. I had to give up meat because I couldn't stand killing animals for my taste but now lab grown meat will give me the pleasure without the guilt!
[+] Arthanari|8 years ago|reply
What if all the lions in this planet think I couldn't stand killing a deer?
[+] SHOwnsYou|8 years ago|reply
I'm not interested in lab grown meat.

I don't each much meat anyway, but the meat that I do eat is grass fed & finished and raised semi-locally. I prefer the path closer to nature than to the lab.

[+] danielovichdk|8 years ago|reply
Absolutely not.

It's not about the meat, it's about how poor judgement peope have in terms of sustainability.

Meat is meat. And meat is ok.

Whats not okay is mass production of it, or any other kind.

Instead of growing anything in a lab, think about what you consume. This goes for everything. I would much rather eat a chicken that is produced locally than one I have no idea what went through.

This goes for everything I eat. Even though I am not even close to being fanatic.

Its okay to consume but please do it respectfully and reflect upon it.

Lab grown food is simply to futuristic for me

[+] agitator|8 years ago|reply
Thats a great, but naive mindset. The average person eats what they can get at the lowest cost. The market dictates consumption for the majority of the population. The populous won't stop consuming unsustainable, anti-biotic ridden, polluting meat until there is a cheaper but equally satisfying alternative.
[+] d0lph|8 years ago|reply
Lab grown meat is being touted as more sustainable, since you don't have to raise an entire animal.

Also, wouldn't lab grown meat be more precise, like with normal chickens you have no idea what exactly what they ate, or how they mutated. But with lab grown meat it would be the same every time.

[+] wemdyjreichert|8 years ago|reply
I may be a bit old-fashioned in this regard, but no, I (probably) wouldn't. A lot of "fake meat" includes soy, which is known to simulate estrogen iirc. Also, it's kinda for the same reason I won't eat bugs (even if safe and tasty): it's just not to my taste, and that's okay.
[+] AnimalMuppet|8 years ago|reply
No, at least not for a fair amount of time before it comes out. I want to wait for real (independent) data on health effects and nutrition. I want to wait for data on long-term health effects.

By independent, I mean not just independent of the grower, but perhaps also of the FDA.

[+] Arthanari|8 years ago|reply
>> long term health effects

Does it mean 100 years of data. Shouldn't we see 100 years of data before we decide on whether something is safe to consume. I am sure we have 100+ years of data that consuming naturally grown chicken meat is healthy.

[+] yellowapple|8 years ago|reply
I wouldn't mind being that data.
[+] 06rg11|8 years ago|reply
Yes if it tastes the same and is much cheaper than it is at the moment
[+] Arthanari|8 years ago|reply
What if we stop eating chicken and then they go extinct?

Would those who caused this by switching to lab grown meat feel bad about it?

And if they go extinct then is there any net benefit in we stopping to eat them?

[+] davman|8 years ago|reply
> What if we stop eating chicken and then they go extinct?

People keep chickens as pets.

Also eggs.