Getting Food Literally From the Air is Good News, Right?
Plus 5 THINGS that perplex me, FTW on XXXgate, a headline of the Democrat’s election winning strategy and Zion Light on The Nature Fallacy
The Headliner: Food From the Air Made by CO2 Gobbling Bacteria
New Protein Powder for Your Smoothies that also is Saving Earth
In a week where the oligarch owners of the LA Times and the Washington Post - two Legacy Media bastions - muzzle their editors, and “certain people” go crazy and get angry over Trump’s smart and clever McDonald’s photo opp (you certain people remember that hoary old political tool right?), I have chosen a positive science story about creating food out of nothing but air. Surely we need some good news and laughs. Try to forget that last week I posted research about how good news doesn’t sell. Yikes for Monday Morning Tonic but I’ll forge ahead anyway.
So in simple terms a variety of new agricultural start-ups have put together pilot industrial plants using bacteria that take CO2 and other gaseous feedstocks and in the quiet of a fermentation chamber, replicate mindlessly creating a goop (not of the Gynneth Paltrow sort) that can be used as a nutritious protein. Evidently this research has some momentum as there are 25 companies doing this worldwide.
This is some startling science and innovation, but sounds completely unappetizing to me. That is probably why they are “focused on industrial animal feed, fish meal, and pet food” and “less exacting consumers”. On this last front their thinking seems a couple of decades out of date. We used to feed our pets whatever was lying about, but now that pets are our babies and children, pet food is off the charts healthy as if humans were going to eat it. (Don’t say it David! Can’t help myself: that used to happen but we can’t afford pet food to eat anymore).
I know what group these start-ups are over looking: Silly Valley1 denizens and their fanboys. They love trying icky stuff especially if it means they don't have to leave their desks to do something trivial like eating. “Soylent, meanwhile, was a life hack for body-optimizing tech bros with more important things to think about than lunch.” (great recent article in The New Yorker - paywalled - that gives the history of this phenomenon). Bacterial brew sounds right down their alley.
What I am not understanding though is the need “to do it in a way that doesn’t create more emissions or other environmental issues.” I thought this great type of bacteria was just sucking CO2 out of the air. Where’s the emissions? Evidently it takes a lot of power to do the goop making. Also a feedstock into the process is hydrogen which opens up another can of worms (which never took off as a foodstuff) - regarding its “greenness”.
So there are a few problems - including scaling up - before you can be adding bacterial protein powder to your favourite morning drink. Still with time a new era will be upon us with emergent careers like molecular farmers and bacterial wranglers. There is even a great marketing tag line compliments of one of the Finnish start ups: "`You can find something useful in a ditch.”
Secondi: FIVE THINGS That Perplex me
TikTok’s new live selling scheme isn’t about anything live or in person. It’s this generation’s semantical contradiction, like reality TV.
But TikTok isn’t eshewing everything in the physical world. They are going to be publishing and distributing physical books. Turns out after a low point in 2012 print books are back!
How the new plane from Natikus, an up and coming competitor for Boeing and Airbus, is considered narrowbody, in airplane industry lingo. It looks two parts slick and one part scary
Everything about the Cybertruck from Tesla and its marketing. The latest is the lightbar which they advertise but cannot legally sell or install. Huh? The truck is completely illegal in Europe. What? And compared to the new plane Cyberturck is all scary.
Helen Mirren’s ongoing worship of Kurt Cobain. She keeps bringing him up, over the years, especially about the great technology Kurt has missed. Like GPS. This is the best technology of the last 30 years that she could think of? I will NEVER understand the thought processes of celebrities.
Welcome to a new weekly department featuring one article I found rewarding in Substack. It is a large and growing source of independent thinking, that is sorely needed. This week is a meaningful and insightful post on the Nature Fallacy by Zion Lights. This fallacy is seemingly everywhere - mind you I live on Salt Spring Island - but is sometimes so absurd I laugh out loud. I read elsewhere, for instance, that the majority of Europeans are trying to live chemically free lives. (Read the article if you think that is possible). Following up my FTW about influencers for last week, this post also contains significant material on the harmfulness of celebrity influencers.
If you’re enjoying Monday Morning Tonic, consider forwarding it to someone else you think might like it.
FTW: XXXgate
The George Orwell Say What You Mean Department
This is not a new revelation from a porn star about Tiny Donald Trump, but rather the continual usage of the suffix “gate” to designate anything that seems to be slightly amiss in our society. The latest examples are Grubgate and Gamergate 2.0 with Oceangate still fresh in our memories (the Titanic submersible that I instantly forgot due to its hubris). I think that once we are using software release protocols for naming society’s problems everyone ca agree that it has gone too far.
Seriously though when there is a large Wikipedia page dedicated to the Gate naming practice, it is a way overused. To me gating is sloppy and unimaginative journalism. So imagine my surprise to learn that a journalist I greatly respect - William Safire - promoted the usage of “gate”. He wrote a brilliant column On Language that ran for 40 years until his death. It was witty, insightful and entertaining. A full demerit point in my respect of him for saddling us with this week’s FTW.
HEADLINE HEAD SCRATCHER
Silly me, I thought that the Democrats were in a coin toss election. I guess their considerable research about the undecided voters in the 7 swing states came up with this winning strategy.
What do you think?
Silly Valley is my pejorative term for all things pernicious that come from Silicon Valley