The Hottest Restaurant of 2081 | Hacker News Reader

The Hottest Restaurant of 2081

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56 pointsbenbreen20 comments

So let's say they killed all chicken because of some virus (why else would they die out but not cattle); then there must be some other animals that taste like chicken. Everything tastes like chicken.

Damn, now I have to read "Chew" again. Stupid Chikin. https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/chew

Never read Chew, but Starve has many parallels with this story: https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/starve

how about we switch? You read one issue of chew, I read one of starve?

Frankly, I didn't find the artwork appealing, and I find that pretty much indispensable to enjoy comics. I'm also already following ~10 Image series; more than this and I'll start mixing up the storylines :)

The best plant-based chicken won't take until 2081. There's already excellent plant-based chicken available. Some of it is already indistinguishable (depending on preparation). I think they're going to master chicken long before they master beef, and there are already a few startups working on plant-based beef (recently notable, Impossible Foods).

There are so many mock meat choices. If you've had one and didn't like it, it might be too soon to write off the category. In the Bay Area, try a chicken sandwich from Veggie Grill, one of the most convincing things you can get locally.

I bet they do a good job. But a chicken sandwich is about the bottom of the barrel, meatwise.

How about a really good pastrami? Or a Philly? Gotta have tender beef, ribeye preferably, marinated and rubbed and smoked and braised or steamed, then grilled with peppers and onions. Does the fake stuff stand up to that? No? Then its got a long, long way to go before it replaces anything.

Interesting idea, although it has the same failings as classic sci fi and much of the modern left when it comes to economic illiteracy (in particular agricultural efficiency being mandated by law instead of left to the market).

Also projections of population don't suggest any more than doubling by 2080 at the maximum. And raising and killing animals humanely should become easier with improvement in robotics technology.

The law does mandate efficiency in a lot of areas currently, like in car mileage. It's not outlandish to imagine that future governments will mandate efficiency in agriculture, even if you consider that those will be redundant or misguided.

That is a really good point. Perhaps one could compare it to creating and driving an car from the 1920's, and trying to satisfy all the regulations around cars nowadays.

On the other hand, I do think that combination of extreme scarcity leading to government regulation is so out of line with how the world is moving, that it reflects flawed thinking. It's almost as if people want some kind of crises to escape the decadence of modern capitalism (and there are as many on the right who think this way). The only thing that could create this kind of scarcity is global warming. But maybe the reference to a farmer on the arctic circle was a reference to this?

I do think that global warming (and subsequent sea rising) is pretty much what they were alluding to, from the cover picture of water flooding NY.

By the way, if you're looking for some SF very much in line with your posts, I suggest James P. Hogan's The Multiplex Man. It's not a great novel, but the background of Western governments using environmental protection to justify massive intrusions in personal liberties is intriguing. As someone who doesn't believe that AGI is some conspiracy, but who prefers the State as a mechanism of last resort, I'm hoping we can avoid the conditions that would provide justification for a much heavier hand.

> And raising and killing animals humanely should become easier with improvement in robotics technology.

I don't know if this is better or more disturbing.

Not much to do with robotics maybe, but I would guess we might be able to grow beef or poultry meat tissue synthetically, rather than having to actually raise and then slaughter animals.

I think this story imagines a future much like the past, where a mix of market and state solutions have been used over time to respond to acute and chronic crises. Imagining such a future doesn't seem like a 'failing' - it seems somewhat realistic. You might want to imagine a future where the state leaves agricultural regulation up to the markets, but this isn't a portrayal of anybody's utopia - either a left wing one or a right wing one.

You mean of course to say, robotically.

Of course, but Robotness would probably be an improvement over humaneness given our tendency to ignore animal suffering as long as it's out of sight.

Who's programming the robots?

Judging by the spate of articles posted on HN recently, I would assume dolphins.

Other robots, obviously.

I think in 2081 someone will walk into a bar or restaurant and gasp at how expensive it is: There are real humans waiting on tables.

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