<story><title>Paul Graham on the Transition to Meat Substitutes</title><url>https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1099648817601921024</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jameslk</author><text>Since we&amp;#x27;re making predictions here, I predict that shortly after we adopt meat substitutes, we&amp;#x27;ll start to question what&amp;#x27;s inside them. Then the conversation will change from meat substitutes being good and healthy to something akin to the GMO debate about meat substitutes not being natural. And just like GMOs, whether it&amp;#x27;s actually bad for you or not won&amp;#x27;t matter. This debate will be a proxy war between Big Meat and some faceless VC-backed corporations trying to make meat proprietary. Some meat substitutes will actually be pretty terrible but #notallmeatsubstitutes. Unfortunately, it will only take a few bad substitutes to ruin the name of all.&lt;p&gt;I also predict that meat substitutes, if made cheaper than meat, will be deemed inferior in quality (cheap = inferior, because psychology) and reserved for those who cannot afford real meat (the &amp;quot;meatless masses&amp;quot;).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nabla9</author><text>Most of the meat in the market  is already something else than what people think meat is.&lt;p&gt;Meatballs may have more than half chicken skin. Burgers contain 25% filler. Pink slime (= lean finely textured beef) is a highly processed meat by-product. In the US its processed with ammonia but that&amp;#x27;s not allowed in EU.</text></comment>
<story><title>Paul Graham on the Transition to Meat Substitutes</title><url>https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1099648817601921024</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jameslk</author><text>Since we&amp;#x27;re making predictions here, I predict that shortly after we adopt meat substitutes, we&amp;#x27;ll start to question what&amp;#x27;s inside them. Then the conversation will change from meat substitutes being good and healthy to something akin to the GMO debate about meat substitutes not being natural. And just like GMOs, whether it&amp;#x27;s actually bad for you or not won&amp;#x27;t matter. This debate will be a proxy war between Big Meat and some faceless VC-backed corporations trying to make meat proprietary. Some meat substitutes will actually be pretty terrible but #notallmeatsubstitutes. Unfortunately, it will only take a few bad substitutes to ruin the name of all.&lt;p&gt;I also predict that meat substitutes, if made cheaper than meat, will be deemed inferior in quality (cheap = inferior, because psychology) and reserved for those who cannot afford real meat (the &amp;quot;meatless masses&amp;quot;).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jniedrauer</author><text>On a tangential note, I wish it were possible to buy foods specifically because they contain GMOs. I intentionally avoid buying foods labeled &amp;quot;non-GMO&amp;quot; in a feeble attempt to vote with my wallet.</text></comment>