Episode Details

In my first “Meat Matters” substack, I wrote that despite some recent popular press obituaries, I remain optimistic about the scientific viability of cultivated meat, and I spelled out why.

Here's the executive summary:

In less than a decade, costs have fallen by orders of magnitude, government funding and scientific progress have surged, and multiple companies report that they are within striking distance of price parity. In short: The science and engineering challenges will not require inconceivably difficult breakthroughs or AGI, and of the dozens of cultivated meat scientists and engineers I spoke with for my new book Meat, all of them are optimistic about our path forward.

Zak Weston from Food System Innovations (FSI) works on market shaping for FSI and has personally reviewed techno-economic analyses from five different cultivated meat companies. He says that those analyses show “that at current cell line and media performance, if produced in commercial-scale facilities, they could reach cost parity or cost advantage compared to their animal meat benchmark.”

In Zak's view (and mine), “the technological progress over the past few years has been remarkable.”

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First published:
September 24th, 2026

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ehmBFyL6Ft68DTJyT/meat-matters-why-i-m-optimistic-about-cultivated-meat-and-a

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.