So the optimal diet to feed the world sustainably, currently, includes animal protein. Pure vegan is a luxury choice under that model.
I absolutely understand why people are so resistant to being told that eating meat hurts animals. I wasn't born vegan, and I grew up eating the typical American diet and ignoring where my food came from.
I’m torn on this topic. I personally would not be a customer of lab meat. However if someone is going to eat meat it’s much better for the environment if they eat lab grown meat. On the other hand, they are not experiencing the health benefits of eating a plant based diet.
In the end, I’m neither in support or oppose to this research. I do wonder if the investment is better spend on Beyond or Impossible (which I am not a customer of either.)
Occasionally I hear animal welfare researchers and activists on the 80,000 Hours podcast report their actual modeling and computation where they seem consistently to come to the conclusion that changing minds is not an effective use of money and effort at the margin.