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Adoption of lab-grown meat

by kaleb
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Friday 21st November
12:00 am – 3:30 am GMT
Waterloo, ON, Canada
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kaleb

Posted on: 17th Nov 2025

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Kitchener-Waterloo Rationality

Note that this event is not in the usual location
Note that the location of this event was moved on Thursday morning!!

Meet inside The Shops at Waterloo Town Square - we will congregate in the indoor seating area next to the Your Independent Grocer with the trees sticking out in the middle of the benches (pic) at 7:00 pm for 15 minutes. Then we will go to my (Kaleb's) home, a 5 min walk from the square, for 7:30. If you already know my address, feel free to go there directly.

This event will now be held on the University of Waterloo campus. We will congregate at the fountain outside MC ('Egg Fountain' on google maps) from 7:15-7:25 and then move to MC 5511 at 7:30.


Description

Lab-grown meat has been demonstrated to be scientifically feasible, and may be seen in consumer markets in the coming years. Widespread adoption of lab-grown meat over factory-farmed meat would be a massive win for alleviation of animal suffering and climate change.  However, this is not the first promised food-technology revolution; one EA forum post draws the analogy between lab-grown meat and GMOs to argue that the promises of lab-grown meat are far from secured. Let's see if we agree.

The required reading is:
Cultivated Meat: A Wakeup Call for Optimists (Cian Hamilton, 2025)

Optional supplementary readings:

In budding battle over lab-grown meat, Florida takes opening stab (CBC, 2024)

If cloned meat enters the food supply, will Canadians know? (Global News, 2025)

Some Discussion Questions

  • Under what circumstances would you eat lab grown meat?
  • Under what circumstances would you eat exclusively lab grown meat?
  • Is the analogy between GMOs and ;ab-grown meat drawn by Hamilton accurate? If not, why?
  • Do you believe lab-grown meat is on track to be widely adopted?
  • Do you expect lab-grown meat to become politically polarizing? If so, which political forces to you expect to align against lab-grown meat?

  • If animal rights and climate activists anticipate organized opposition to adoption of lab-grown meat, what can they do now to mitigate its effect?