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reid-rigo 5 hours ago

Hope to see these headlines some day for the meat industry

doodlebugging 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

A better target would be the oil and gas industry. When you look at this diamond situation it looks like in approximately one generation, demand for natural diamonds dropped low enough that the effort to mine new diamonds became uneconomical.

This happened because the ease of obtaining lab-grown diamonds that could be much higher quality, made lab-grown diamonds more attractive because buyers, who may already have been squeezed by other unfavorable economic realities found no reason to purchase natural diamonds at a higher price point.

If we could see a shift like that in energy source preference from one generation then perhaps we could destroy the incentive to produce more oil and gas or make it so uneconomical for use a motor vehicle fuel that it became a specialty product that was produced only to supply a niche product line.

We have a similar opportunity now with electric vehicles, solar panels, battery storage, etc that we can make a large dent in the volume of crude oil and natural gas required to power our economies. Developing nations have an advantage in a way because they have less legacy infrastructure to support that requires oil and gas. They can adopt the new big thing and just roll with that saving their citizens lots of money and environmental consequences associated with use of hydrocarbons fuels.

More than 35 years in the oil and gas industry. This is what I learned.

We should invest in developing nations to bring them up to speed with best available technologies. If we waste too much time we will see continents like Africa with 56 (?) nations become a flash-point for the next round of resource wars (oil and gas conflicts) that will be pushed on them by foreign operators attempting to make as much of the O&G money as possible before the world gets the message and abandons their destructive products permanently. We are already seeing some of this today. Millions of lives are in the crossfire. We have an opportunity to make a difference and we should take it. Old and young in developed nations should adopt next-gen tech ASAP so that kill these dino-corps before they kill too many more of us.

SoftTalker 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If we can replace the taste, appearance, and texture of a medium-rare rib eye with lab grown meat at a substantially cheaper price, we will.

0xcde4c3db 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

True, but it's also the case that in some places and subcultures we're already at a point where meat with certain qualifications in some contexts is a Veblen good, and the rhetoric around it is very much a quasi-mystical blend of notions of purity and vitalism (see e.g. paleo/primal/ancestral diet influencers). That edge, almost by definition, can't be produced in a lab, and if we were really being purely rational/utilitarian about these things, I doubt we'd be eating as much meat as we are today.

kstrauser 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I love a good cheeseburger. I’ve enjoyed ones from Michelin restaurants and from local holes in the wall; I’m not choosy. To me, the taste and texture of a cheeseburger is one of the best testing things on the planet.

I do not eat cheeseburgers to feel manly or dominant. I eat them because they are delicious. If I could have a plant-based or otherwise non-meat burger that tastes as good as the real thing, I’d eat it. Impossible burgers are getting close and I’ve had my fair share of them, but they’re not there yet. They’re near enough that I’m confident we’ll get there soon.

TomJansen 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>substantially cheaper price

why substantially cheaper? Break-even would be fine too, no? And as a plus, lab-grown meat is much more ethical.

I also think that replacing 'cheap' meat like ground beef would already be sufficient and would make a huge impact, there is really no need make it difficult for ourselves and try to replace rib-eye.

SoftTalker 11 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Because if it costs the same, people will just keep buying the "real" thing.

fooker 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

For me, it would have to be mass produced and about an order of magnitude cheaper.

I'd rather not be testing/tasting experimental lab stuff. And mass production bringing down the price with economies of scale is the real proof that the technology is ready.

willsmith72 3 hours ago | parent [-]

there's nothing holy about eating real animals (unless you're religious)

i'm no vegan, but if identical lab-grown alternatives are available at near same cost without the hormones, antibiotics, emissions, I'll take it

fooker 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Identical is the point here.

The test of 'identical' to me is going to be mass production with economies of scale. I surely don't have the equipment to test whether it's identical, nor would I trust the marketing.

skeledrew 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Maybe there's something about lives being taken to provide the food that appeals to certain people.

wonderwonder 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I don't think most people are going to grab lab grown out of the grocer fridge if normal beef is available for the same price. I know I would not. But if its 25% cheaper I'm happy to try it

loloquwowndueo 4 hours ago | parent [-]

I would for the same price as it doesn’t involve killing a cow. That’s a plus for me!

wonderwonder 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Agree, as long as it's meat. Lab grown meat from cells is meat. The reason impossible never worked was becuase it wasn't meat. Very few people are going to trade meat for soy and vegetables

nkrisc 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Even though I do eat meat I still enjoy black bean burger patties far more than Impossible because a black bean patty is tasty in its own way and not trying to replicate meat.

A black bean patty or similar is a tasty bit of food that works well in a burger form.

I like meat but not every meal I eat needs to have meat in it. Give me tasty (and cheaper) alternatives to meat and I’ll eat them in place of meat sometimes.

fooker 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yeah impossible was targeting a weird small niche.

The intersection of 'vegan by all means', 'loves the taste of meat', 'does not care about ultra processed food', 'enough money to go for the expensive option'.

No wonder it did not work.

moate 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

IDK what "never worked" means here, the market cap for Impossible/Beyond alone is still over a billion dollars. You can still get an Impossible Whopper at any Burger King in the US.

There's plenty of issues with selling meat alternatives, I don't think you're the person to speak to them for some reason...

fooker 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You're off by ~40%.

Their combined market cap seems to be around 600M.

bluefirebrand 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

According to Google AI "The global beef industry has a total market value of approximately $465 billion to $526 billion"

Impossible/Beyond barely exists in comparison

hedora 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Modern beef is unhealthy for humans due to grazing conditions. Maybe the lab grown stuff will be closer to conventional farming output.

defrost a minute ago | parent | next [-]

> Modern beef is

By which you mean US style grain finished short cycle beef I guess?

The world's bigger than that.

jonstewart 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Hopefully most people here getting ribeyes aren’t getting them from the same factory farms that supply McDonald’s and sell other cheap kinds of beef. A ribeye is an occasional luxury and best bought from the farmer.

SoftTalker 8 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Most people buy their ribeyes at the supermarket like they do all their other food.

bookofjoe 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>... best bought from the farmer.

Perhaps you're anticipating this:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/sep/4/trump-allows...

Loughla 3 hours ago | parent [-]

This just opens up the door for meat that isn't inspected before sale. That's not ideal, really.

There are farmers everywhere who will sell you a cow. There are small butcher shops that will process it.

This is a solution in search of a problem, in my opinion. It will only benefit already massive corporation farms.

vlyan 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

the demand for diamonds is artificial, the demand for meat is very much organic. the only thing stopping most people from consuming more of it is the cost -- driven by demand.

Gibbon1 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

There are a number of efforts to grow vat grown protein. That's producing food without plants even.