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CRISPR fungus: Protein-packed, sustainable, and tastes like meat

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171 points rguiscard | 15 comments | 12 Dec 25 00:59 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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VladVladikoff ◴[12 Dec 25 04:08 UTC] No.46240782[source]▶
If the goal is reduced CO2, wouldn’t it be better to take aim at plants, rather than fungi?
replies(2): >>46241005 #>>46241312 #
1. otabdeveloper4 ◴[12 Dec 25 06:04 UTC] No.46241312[source]▶
> If the goal is reduced CO2

... let's start on tearing down bullshit AI datacenters.

Oh no, a billion Nvidia cards are envronmentally friendly, you say, better to lazer-focus on the cow farts?

replies(2): >>46241383 #>>46241392 #
2. ragequittah ◴[12 Dec 25 06:21 UTC] No.46241383[source]▶
The cow farts, the important forests being torn down far cattle, the important forests being torn down for soy beans that feed the cattle, the inhumane conditions in which the cattle are raised. The problem you dismissed is indeed far larger than the one you're worried about.
replies(2): >>46241461 #>>46241937 #
3. curtisf ◴[12 Dec 25 06:23 UTC] No.46241392[source]▶
Livestock emits between 10% to 20% of global greenhouse gases (in carbon equivalent/100y-GWP) [1]

In contrast, all data centers (not just AI) currently use less than 1.5% of all electricity, making up less than 0.3% of global emissions [2]. Although recent increases in data center electricity usage is lamentable, even in the short term future, much of this can and more importantly _will_ be low-carbon energy, and the ratio should continue to improve with time.

A 1% reduction in livestock emissions is therefore about the same as a 50% reduction in data center emissions.

[1]: https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/food-agriculture-environm...

[2]: https://www.carbon-direct.com/insights/understanding-the-car...

replies(2): >>46241442 #>>46241930 #
4. Dylan16807 ◴[12 Dec 25 06:39 UTC] No.46241455{3}[source]▶
Are you making up a guy to be mad at?
replies(1): >>46241472 #
5. mos87 ◴[12 Dec 25 06:40 UTC] No.46241461[source]▶
>the important forests being torn down far cattle

It's a bit extreme to refer to that "climate" summit "guests" as cattle, but I won't deny it gave me a chuckle.

>the inhumane conditions in which the cattle are raised

Gosh, that's sad. One way to go about it is to vote with your hard-earned and only buy meat from the Ethically Raised in the Swiss Alps Cows that look quite happy on the photos then.

replies(3): >>46241636 #>>46241666 #>>46243116 #
6. mos87 ◴[12 Dec 25 06:43 UTC] No.46241472{4}[source]▶
It's only game, why you heff to be mad?
7. kleiba ◴[12 Dec 25 07:12 UTC] No.46241636{3}[source]▶
No need to be snarky, a lot of people are already implementing such changes in the way the buy and consume food.
8. asterix_pano ◴[12 Dec 25 07:17 UTC] No.46241666{3}[source]▶
Did you know they put nose rings with spikes on the calfs so they don't drink their mother's milk? https://as1.ftcdn.net/jpg/03/06/17/72/1000_F_306177230_izPAv...
replies(2): >>46241756 #>>46242181 #
9. clort ◴[12 Dec 25 07:35 UTC] No.46241756{4}[source]▶
what is the context for this photo please? (that is not a calf btw?)

It certainly does not look very nice, are you relating this to the "Ethically Raised in the Swiss Alps Cows" in the comment you replied to?

In truth, they just take the calves away from the mothers after a short while, ship them out to the abbatoir. There is no benefit to them being in the same enclosure with a spiky nose ring, it seems that this must have a different purpose than the one you mentioned.

10. otabdeveloper4 ◴[12 Dec 25 08:08 UTC] No.46241937[source]▶
Meat is useful. "AI" datacenters are 100% harm in every possible way. Let's start with that.
replies(1): >>46243172 #
11. swiftcoder ◴[12 Dec 25 08:52 UTC] No.46242181{4}[source]▶
I suggest reading/listening a little bit outside of the PETA propaganda bubble. For example, here's a good short discussion on the topic with a cattle farmer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4cHn6NX4wQ
12. literalAardvark ◴[12 Dec 25 10:32 UTC] No.46242765{3}[source]▶
The numbers are what the numbers are, not what you want them to be.

Minimizing cow farts is simply a better focus.

replies(1): >>46243159 #
13. ben_w ◴[12 Dec 25 11:30 UTC] No.46243116{3}[source]▶
> Gosh, that's sad. One way to go about it is to vote with your hard-earned and only buy meat from the Ethically Raised in the Swiss Alps Cows that look quite happy on the photos then.

In a discussion about genetically modified fungus as a meat substitute?

14. otabdeveloper4 ◴[12 Dec 25 11:37 UTC] No.46243159{4}[source]▶
I never said anything about electricity consumption in my origional post, my disingenuous friend.
15. ben_w ◴[12 Dec 25 11:39 UTC] No.46243172{3}[source]▶
Meat was useful, back when we had not yet selectively bred fantastically better than natural crops of all kinds, back when we had not yet invented synthetic fertiliser that's now the ultimate source of 70-80% of the nitrogen in a the body of someone in an industrialised nation, back when hunger was a bigger problem than obesity.

Now? Now meat's mostly a problem, not a good thing. Even if you ignore every ethical argument, regardless of if your concerns are your own health or the environment, meat's not good.

Data centres… well, I think this is a bubble, I also want it to be a bubble for various reasons, but the AI running on them today is in fact already useful.

Even if current AI wasn't at all useful (despite it having about half to one quarter of the market size as meat), it does so at a cost of several orders of magnitude less environmental harm than meat. Convincing half of the population to have "meat-free Mondays" would do about as much as switching off all the DCs including the non-AI ones, given the estimates from Greenpeace for AI https://www.greenpeace.de/publikationen/20250514-greenpeace-... and Our World In Data https://ourworldindata.org/ghg-emissions-by-sector