General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNanocellulose Algae: The 'Super Material' Of The Future Will Be Cheap, Strong And Organic
Imagine a substance that was strong and light enough to armour soldiers, flexible and conductive enough to be turned into the next generation of flexible smartphone screens - and even absorbent enough to make tampons more effective.
OKAY, I imagined it.
?6
So that looks like pond scum. And who cares, you ask.
Now scientists have developed a way to manufacture nanocellulose...cheaply enough to make it commercially viable.
New research focuses on engineering Nobles' blue-green algae with the bacteria, in an effort to make an organic nanocellulose 'factory'. The practical result would be an algae that - given water, sunlight and time - could produce nanocellulose on its own.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/09/nanocellulose-algae-production_n_3047020.html?1365537539&ncid=webmail21
This then could be made into anything including as the article breathlessly announces a "low-cal food bulker." Or better yet, a "biofuel" or a "wound dressing." A magical plant!! This will revolutionize the world! Improve all our lives. Or? I remember all the other times someone said that before unleashing some frightening new plague on humanity.
What if the stuff grows like kuzdoo, kills like DDT, causes birth defects like thalidomide, cancer like red dye #10, radiation poisoning like nuclear plants, mercury poisoning like heavy industry, fracking polluted water like the oil industry, ozone destruction, super viruses, GMOs? Hell, this stuff could grow out of control like some 50s horror movie.
More technology no one knows if they can control. More guinea pigs. No one asked me what I think of it, of course, but I will have to live with the final results of this experimentation with nature. If it goes wrong, I will live with the consequences even though I am not comfortable at the outset with what they are doing. This nasty looking test tube algae reminds me of so many other half-baked ideas that end up hurting rather than helping. And they are going to feed it to me!!!
I am a lot more skeptical of technological advancements these days as no one ever has answers for solving the environmental problems they create. They only see the dollar signs. This magic algae may make cheap tampons and great diet food, but it may also kill off all the birds on the planet, or the butterflies, or the primates. I am just not convinced.
Anyone else find this kind of stuff creepy and repulsive?
gcomeau
(5,764 posts)Anyone else find this kind of stuff creepy and repulsive?
No.
You appear to have *zero* concrete basis for a single concern you just expressed, you just dreamed up any possible hypothetical problem you could imagine and threw out a list of "what ifs"
You could do the same with all technological progress through human history.
Generic Other
(28,979 posts)How do I know it isn't soylent green? Or worse.
gcomeau
(5,764 posts)Well gosh I don't know, how do you know yogurt isn't made from puppies?
I sigh because your statements are consistently ridiculous.
Generic Other
(28,979 posts)I have been on this site since 2001 and I have never encountered such unfriendly, derisive, condescending responses as yours.
Do you really think this is how you persuade others that your ideas have any validity? You think I am the only person who might object to eating food that also can substitute as a tampon or any other damn product corporate America wants to sell me? I think you will find many people who object to this kind of tampering with our food supply. That does not make us all just imbeciles who are standing in the way of some amazing advancements in science. Eating green pond scum is not a milestone of human development. It is a step backward.
I can't believe I have to defend my distaste for the idea of eating engineered algae at DU. Clearly, I am starting to wonder why I even post here anymore.
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)I think with your over-the-top, ludicrous Soylent Green comment you demonstrated your complete lack of credibility in just about any scientific discussion.
iemitsu
(3,888 posts)I think they are perfectly valid concerns. Why should we be cajoled into eating something just because it is cheap to produce? Is this another way for corporations to control the food supply?
I'll stick with traditional food stuffs and leave the algae to the fish.
gcomeau
(5,764 posts)1. Nobody is cajoling anyone into eating anything.
2. His concerns about a new bio material being anything from a poison to a carcinigen to a nuclear pollutant to an ozone destroyer to a super virus to a world consuming gellatenous mass akin to The Blob are "valid" based on WHAT exactly?
Generic Other
(28,979 posts)whether I like it or not.
I am going to be told not to worry because it is good for me, and I will know this is so because corporate research and development is always looking out for what is good for me. Besides, I can't prove it isn't good for me anyway, so I should STFU.
I have no valid reason to mistrust garbage masquerading as food or any right to compare its possible effects to other technological mistakes that ended up creating more harm than good. How dare I hold such an opinion?
gcomeau
(5,764 posts)Eventually it may result in something getting in Generic Other's sandwich...
Generic Other
(28,979 posts)I'm sure you'll make a fortune with those appetizing sandwiches.
gcomeau
(5,764 posts)Or did you just randomly cut and paste sections of it to serve as post decoration or something?
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)We would all be so much happier as nomadic hunter gatherers. Constantly wandering, starving, exposed to the elements and dead before 30.
Actually, we should skip the hunter part and go vegan!
Damned fire and agriculture ruined the utopia of primitive humanity.
Generic Other
(28,979 posts)not nutrition, no value other than filling our bellies. And maximizing profits. That kind of science does suck.
gcomeau
(5,764 posts)You really *didn't* bother reading it did you?
iemitsu
(3,888 posts)technology to turn algae into food, or tampons, or tires is worth celebrating suggests promotion.
Eating food made from this engineered plant stuff is, no doubt, preferable to starvation but it is not something to cheer about.
One does not have to be a Luddite to question the introduction of lab experiments into the food chain.
You may be comfortable with the idea of eating food made from algae but where I come from natural algae blooms result in red tide. A product you would not want for lunch.
This revolutionary food stuff sounds to me like a cheap source of food for the world's slaves, for those of us who dare to think we have a right to food and shelter for our labor.
There are many perfectly reasonable questions that need to be answered about a product that can be made into anything.
It sounds like filler to me.
Generic Other
(28,979 posts)Imagine, you will be able to eat your own garbage in the future.
iemitsu
(3,888 posts)A capitalist's dream.
gcomeau
(5,764 posts)...like you think the only thing in the entire article was four words in one section of one sentence.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)I understand being creeped out, but it might not be so bad.
Generic Other
(28,979 posts)not protein. It's not exactly the miracle of the loaves and the fishes.