In Vitro Meat (AAAACCCCKKK!!!)

I'm not sure why the link didn't work. Everything appears to be in order. I've included another link if you are still interested.

The website is a collection of wav files from movies, tv, &etc. Towards the bottom of the page you should find a link for the movie Soylent Green. It's Heston yelling," Soylent green is people."

Rats, I hoped you would know it. Now I have to check my library (extensive, eclectic and completely uncatalogued!) to find the name and check to see if it is indeed by Arthur C. It's just that this story is so prescient and germane to this topic, it deserves to be dusted off!

By the way, transferring the technology to other areas, this could make long-range space travel (that lasts generations) somewhat more realistic.

What would you tell the kids asking, "are we there yet?" "Nope! Wait two more generations?"

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand the practical utility.

Those "are we there yet kids" would have been born in space, and raised knowing that the ship was home for their lifetimes.

As for practical utility, growing meat in a small room is far more efficient, less expensive, consumes far fewer resources and requires less land than cattle-raising. Rather than 100 acres dedicated to a herd (plus all the necessary feed grain), you may be able to make the same amount of food in the barn... and it will likely take less time to send to market.

As for the practical utility of space exploration, "venturing out beyond the great unknown" has always been in the human psyche. There are planetary systems about 8 light years away (Lalande 21185... although they are gas giants, not terran solids). Build a ship that flies at one-hundredth of light speed ("Warp .01, Scottie!"), and it will take 800 years to get there. We could never do that if the explorers had to keep replenishing their own food supplies via cattle, crops, etc. If we can grow viable food in a small room, then it becomes far less problematic.

There are many who would volunteer to be on such a flight.

Think back to the 1500's, when a trans-Atlantic crossing was not a sure thing, when the trip would take 3+ months, the mortality rate was probably close to 20%, it would take a year to establish a new colony, and the chances of returning were close to nil. People still came to the New World, and left everything they knew behind.

Further, nothing says that 1% of light speed is the upper limit. If we design a propulsion system that attains 10% of light speed, then it is a single-lifetime trip of 80 years. Closer systems may also be found.

Humankind will be sending out excursions like this within the next 300 years. Look at how far we've come in transportation technology since 1705. This food manufacturing technology, if viable, will probably take 30-60 years to mature, but it will be a big piece of the exploration puzzle when it happens.

Another interesting thought: if a ship is sent, followed by another "just" 50 years later with greater technological advances, it may reach the destination after the newer model! (Wouldn't that suck to expect to be first, and find someone else already comfortably settled in? LOL)

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