Over-Engineering Food and Energy

By FRANK LINGO

Scientists at the world’s largest nuclear-fusion facility have for the first time achieved ignition – creating a nuclear reaction that generates more energy than it consumes.

Nature.com covered it on Dec. 13. The research aims to harness nuclear-fusion – which powers the sun – to provide a near-limitless clean energy on Earth.

In a related story, a huge herd of unicorns were seen roaming Central Park in NYC.

‘Scuse my skepticism.

Even the scientists involved say there is a long path to achieving the nuclear-fusion goal. Other skeptics have said in the past that nuclear-fusion is always going to be 30 years away.

Fine. Let’s say they figure out a way to produce it. One little detail about the process is that a temperature of 3 million degrees is necessary to make the ignition.

Are you freakin’ kidding me??!! May I remind us of human error. Most people have left dinner on the stove too long and burned it. So we screw up with .01% of the heat required for the fusion. What if the night watchman at the nuclear-fusion plant takes too long on his smoke break and misses a mishap? Or he thinks it’s fun to blow stuff up on his video game, so why not monkey around with the reactor?

There are very few people who understand this technology but there is no one who can guarantee safety when dealing with temperatures as hot as a nuclear bomb. We’ve seen situations like this before. Nuclear power plants have things go wrong, sometimes catastrophically like Chernobyl and Fukushima.

This phenomenon we humans engage in could be called “Too Big For Our Britchesism.” Sorry, I couldn’t think of a more concise name for it.

We humans aren’t that bright so let’s keep it simple, OK? If we think we can mess with atoms like they’re tinker toys or start changing genetic codes, we are headed for a fall.

A less dangerous but still wrong-headed trend is happening in food production.

The Wall Street Journal ran an article on Dec. 24 entitled “Synthetic Meat Will Change The Ethics of Eating.”

Going beyond Beyond Meat and Impossible Burgers, which use plant-based meat substitutes, the article explains that the new cutting-edge techniques, known as synthetic biology or biosyn for short, uses actual chicken cells (or whatever meat) but grows them in the lab instead of on a factory farm.

Bless me, Father, for I have syned.

Now I’ve been a vegetarian for 34 years because I don’t want my sustenance to come from killing animals. So should I welcome this high-tech animal substitute?

Not at all. It’s impossible to guess and beyond our capability to assess what the long-term effects these Frankenfoods could have on our health.

For what purpose are such processes promulgated? To imitate the taste of meat. I never loved hamburgers to begin with but Beyond and Impossible do a fairly good job of replicating the taste of them. Maybe I’m old-fashioned but I figure a VEGGIE burger should taste like vegetables. The best ones I’ve had are made from beans, mushrooms, maybe a few other veggies and some delicious spices.

There are cookbooks galore with vegan and vegetarian cuisines. The only thing in short supply is the willingness of old-school eaters to change. It’s not even certain that those old-schoolers would embrace the new robomeats.

One thing I feel sure of is that simple is good. In energy, we already know that solar, wind and tides work well and could power our grids if we had the will to wean off fossil fuels. In food, the bounty that nature gave us growing in the ground should be plenty if we can re-adjust our appetites to it.

If we’re willing to be satisfied with the wonders that surround us, we might fit fine in our fashion and get over Too Big For Our Britchesism.

Frank Lingo, based in Lawrence, Kansas, is a former columnist for the Kansas City Star and author of the novel “Earth Vote.” Email: lingofrank@gmail.com. See his website: Greenbeat.world

From The Progressive Populist, February 1, 2023

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