disabilityart.com
Menu:
Synthetic blood and in vitro meat may appear sooner than you think
Science fiction books have introduced the idea of synthetic blood and food made in laboratories since decades ago. Today we can observe a growing trend in movies and TV shows to promote the same idea. If you are a True Blood or Twilight fan it means that you are already accustomed with the idea of blood being made in laboratories. Recent studies have shown that within a decade these concepts may move from the fantasy section into real life. It is unquestionable that synthetic blood holds numerous benefits for the general population and once that is possible, imagine how it would be to stop world hunger with meat made in vitro that has never been a part of any live animal. Synthetic blood can be obtained by using embryonic stem cells.
The study point out that one important issue will be the general opinion of the public. It is yet unclear how the population will receive these new concepts. Some may ignore them completely, others may be afraid of them because they cannot understand how did technology developed so much that now they will eat meat made in laboratories instead of meat processing plants while others will accept them as a natural forward step for the benefit of mankind. It is because of this uncertainty of whether people will accept it or not that scientific institutes, laboratories and other such entities must raise awareness toward the benefits of this new technology and to invite them to learn more about this process.
Fans of the True Blood series and Twilight have the advantage of getting used with this concept by watching the shows. They will represent a starting point for debate on recent biotechnology projects at a public event organized as part of the ESRC's Festival of Social Science 2011.
Here people will be able to discuss all the social and cultural issues related to the latest biotechnological discoveries and future projects. For example the same technology that can be used to make synthetic blood can be also used to produce meat. The organizers will present the benefits this technology can offer us and afterwards comment on their social and cultural implications.
