[ExI] deathless meat

[Kelly Anderson]

2011/9/1 spike <spike66 at att.net>:
>
>
> Let’s hope they can work out this plan:
>
>
>
> http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/09/01/slaughter-free-stem-cell-meat-sausage-coming-soon/?test=latestnews
>

Cool. Been waiting for a while for this one.

> The article goes off on a tangent about how the meat from stem cells doesn’t
> taste good, but they ignore the enormous breakthrough it would be.  Imagine
> for instance we manage to get the stem cells to convert simple sugars, which
> can be manufactured relatively cheaply perhaps even without using plants,
> and turn it into complex proteins.  That sounds a lot like what they have
> done here.  If so, I think we can find a way around the problem of its not
> tasting right without blood diffusing the tissue.  As far as I know, we
> currently do not use the blood from farm beasts when they are slain.
> Perhaps we could collect that stuff and figure out how to get the stem cells
> to absorb it.  I don’t know if it is used now however.  Have we any
> slaughterhouse hipsters?  (Now there’s a name for a heavy metal band.)

I have slaughtered two full grown pigs. It's on Heinlein's list:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion,
butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance
accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders,
give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new
problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight
efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. Time Enough
for Love (1973) p.248

I don't know if that makes me a slaughterhouse hipster... I've also
done in a number of chickens... LOTS easier! I don't think anyone
should eat meat without at some time killing one of the animals they
eat. It changes the experience dramatically. I still eat meat, I am
not ashamed of it, but it is highly interesting just how similar the
insides of a pig are to a person. In fact, some Papua New Guinea
tribes refer to their cannibalistic meal as a "long pig"... that'll
tell ya something.

The thing that I really wanted to say about this is that the texture
and color of this stuff really isn't the main thing for getting it on
the market. People didn't like margarine at first because you had to
mix in your own color. The farmers wouldn't let them sell it already
yellow. And the American cheese board wanted processed cheese (now
called ironically American Cheese) to be called "embalmed cheese"
initially. People eat kelp all the time without even knowing it. The
real problems will be doing whatever the heck they are doing at scale.
Do it at scale and you'll first get some of the vegans and
vegetarians... make it cheap and you'll get the poor... make it good
and you'll get everyone! But that's the last step!

Expensive and tasteless for the vegans first... then take over the
world! It's just like the first cell phone. Expensive and tasteless.
:-)

-Kelly