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Benedict Arnold

Will population growth make synthetic food a necessity?

According to the US Census Bureau world population reached 7 billion in March 2012. It will reach 7.5 billion this year and almost 10 billion by 2050. Can we expect all manner of synthetic foods to prevent a world famine?

Posted - February 24, 2017
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Responses


  • I think that's a great possibility Didge. We'll be eating food pellets, like our pets do. Either that or we will have to start eating humans that pass away. In fact, Mrs. Didge and I already have a 'Didge roast' planned, in your honor of course.
      February 24, 2017 5:11 PM MST
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  • She'll probably want to BBQ me, Flo. I'll make sure you're invited. 
      February 24, 2017 5:46 PM MST
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  • We'll throw some shrimp on the barbie, right next to the Didge rump roast.
      February 24, 2017 6:29 PM MST
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  • I feel so loved. :)
      February 24, 2017 6:46 PM MST
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  • 2327
    Yep! And the fast food places have already been doing it. ;p

      February 24, 2017 5:11 PM MST
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  • Wish I could give you more than a single Like for this, Righty. It's absolutely brilliant.
      February 24, 2017 5:51 PM MST
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  • There is already more than enough food.  Food production isn't the issue. It's the logistics and profits  of the market. We are actually capable of creating enough food and feeding everyone.
      February 24, 2017 6:30 PM MST
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  • I hope you're right, Glis.Market demands and profits will always be a factor. 
      February 24, 2017 6:46 PM MST
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  • https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/technology/personaltech/the-soylent-revolution-will-not-be-pleasurable.html
      February 24, 2017 6:50 PM MST
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  • I read about that at the time but had forgotten it. Sounds dreadful. Loved the comparison to MS-DOS though. :)
      February 25, 2017 1:53 PM MST
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  • No.  We will  produce Soylent Green.
      February 24, 2017 7:01 PM MST
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  • Thank goodness for plankton. 
      February 24, 2017 8:08 PM MST
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  • Not as tasty.
      March 2, 2017 10:28 PM MST
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  • Dear Dozy,

    I must give you credit for courage with this question…opening the dark door of the Malthusian Catastrophe, potentially extending into another disastrous “final solution” of eugenics…

    …but ima take Glis’ answer, and tweak it a bit…because rather than the market logistics and profit, I would nominate our human empathy/compassion as the limiting factor…we could solve the hunger problem now if we really wanted to, and we could avoid future crises without synthetics…which our bodies don’t tolerate well, cf. Righty 1 answer…

    This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at February 25, 2017 2:03 PM MST
      February 24, 2017 9:39 PM MST
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  • That graph is scary. I love your empathy and compassion but don't share your optimism. JC was wrong. It isn't the meek (or the kind or the decent) who will inherit the earth, it's the unscrupulous. 
      February 25, 2017 2:05 PM MST
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  • Dozy...pls look at my answer again? It's not all that optimistic...

    ...coz it's saying that compassion is the limiting factor...
    Yes I think we have the potential for solving hunger, but not at all sure we will ever do it, and the lack of empathy compassion is the reason it has not happened already!

    It would be nice if someone said, "Oh, hunger is a problem coming up, let's check into synthetics"...nope, that's not our priority.

    This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at February 25, 2017 2:39 PM MST
      February 25, 2017 2:12 PM MST
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  • Sorry, you're right. I missed one word and that turned my perception around. I'll put it down to pre-breakfast caffeine deprivation.
      February 25, 2017 2:24 PM MST
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  • 5835
    Give it up. Everybody in the world could live in Texas with the same density as New York City. Overpopulation is a code word used by people who just wanna kill something.

    If the world's population lived in one city...
      February 25, 2017 2:27 AM MST
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  • That got a smile, though I'm not sure if that was your intention. It'd be a hell of a crowd. 
      February 25, 2017 2:06 PM MST
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  • 5835
    Hunger is not a problem. Government out of control is a problem. Government only exists to prevent any other group from taking control. A citizen's duty is to control his government. That is why governments always eventually treat citizens as enemies of the state.
      February 25, 2017 3:32 PM MST
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  • I'll agree with you to a point but, as we know, whoever you vote for you end up with a politician and whether you vote for Group A or Group B you're likely to end up with a (more-or-less) corrupt administration. Too many snouts in the trough.
      February 25, 2017 3:46 PM MST
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