Future #1: Culture Wars over Cultured Meat: Trust

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The objects before you are from the Darwin Lab Co, a lab-grown meat cell supplier that came to market in 2035. Due to the worldwide freshwater shortage, lab grown meat rose to popularity in the late 2020s. Consumer products were slow to follow. The Darwin Lab Co’s counter top machine was one of the first of its kind allowing home chefs to produce a steak for dinner easily from just a small cell sample of the desired animal. 

 

However, the conversation around the ‘Rights of Non-Humans” rose to prominence in late 2035 and fundamentally changed the landscape of DNA ownership. While the machine originally came with samples of Chicken, Cow and Pig DNA, soon protestors asked who owns the trademark on the DNA of these animals? In 2036 an Indigenous led initiative set up a global trust that could manage the profits from the use of any animal DNA. The trust also encouraged people to protect their totem animal and to have an active say on how the trust’s money could be used in their local area.

 

Over the next three years indigenous and non-indigenous people took up totem animals and became involved in their protection. The rate of species decline dropped remarkably and plateaued in 2042. The koala was removed from the endangered list and to recognise the efforts of Australians to save it, became the country’s national emblem in 2044.

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Future #2: Culture Wars over Cultured Meat: Transational

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The objects before you are from the Darwin Lab Co, a lab-grown meat cell supplier that came to market in 2035. Due to the worldwide freshwater shortage, lab grown meat rose to popularity in the late 2020s. The Darwin Lab Co’s counter top machine was one of the first of its kind allowing home chefs to produce a steak for dinner easily from just a small cell sample of the desired animal.

 

While initially pigs, cows and chickens were the most commonly used, people started to experiment with samples from more exotic animals. Darwin Lab Co scoured the globe for endangered animals such as Galapago Tortoise, Komodo Dragon and the Blue Whale. They collected and patented the DNA that was made available for domestic use.

 

In 2038, a fire in the Australia DNA bank meant that precious koala DNA that was being used by de-extinction researchers was lost. While initially the lab refused to let researchers access their patented DNA they reversed their decision later that year due to public pressure. Darwin Lab Co went on to fund de-extinction programs for the koala and the giant panda, eventually setting up the world’s first de-extinction zoo in Dubai in 2042 which proudly housed the first woolly mammoth the modern world has seen.

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