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Comment by CamperBob2 | Hacker News Reader

You'll probably change your mind. If/when synthmeat becomes both economical and palatable, it will rapidly become socially unacceptable to eat real meat.

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Not sure why you're getting downvoted. Totally disregarding the morality of eating meat, there are many examples throughout history of things that were previously considered morally acceptable that are now frowned upon or are outright banned. Your prediction seems like it could very easily come true.

I'm not sure about the social aspect of it, but I can see it becoming more of a "real meat for special occasions or if you're rich enough". Demand for real meat, especially for processed meat products, will drop.

It will probably be similar to having real fur coats, vs faux fur. Distasteful in some social groups, but other people still do it.

You don't need to go all the way to "socially unacceptable".

All that needs to happen is for the synthetic meat to test better than regular meat.

test, or taste? Have there been cases of things where the artificial equivalent is better than the original?

'better' is questionable and largely undefinable, but certainly lots of cases where the artificial equivalent is more popular. Although in most of those cases price is a big factor.

Yeah, taste

Just like it has become socially unacceptable for the wealthy avoid tax? Or to burn coal for energy? I'm not sure I believe that. Might be good for the planet, but it very much sounds like wishful thinking to me.

If there are two products, one being the original and the other being artificial, I assume there will always be a market for the original. It'll just lead to a price increase.

I would compare it to how it became socially unacceptable to own slaves. The number of individuals who think it is unacceptable to treat animals as commodities, and use them for palate pleasure or convenience is rapidly increasing, and I believe it will hit critical mass in the coming decades; specially as alternatives become more accessible.

I'm looking for alternatives. If you can create something that reacts to heat like meat and provides the same or a similar flavor profile, and that contains similar macronutrient ratios, then I would jump ship.

As it is, whey doesn't have the right flavors and cookability, tofu doesn't have the same flavors and has a lot of carbohydrates, and mushrooms don't have any protein in them.

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