Chapter 141: Cultured Meat (7)
The public legislative hearing about the bill was about ten days later. However, that was only the D-Day; there were dozens of smaller, localized battles going on every day. Numerous intellectuals and livestock industry officials were constantly appearing on TV debates and lectures, strongly voicing their opinions. Among them, there were three people who had the strongest influence.
The first was Steven, the CEO of Red Meat. He was the godfather of conservative organizations and the traditional livestock industry. Although many of his workers had left recently, the interest group of traditional livestock companies that rallied around him was still powerful.
The second was undoubtedly Mckinney. He proved that it was possible to change the traditional livestock system into a cultured meat system by being the first in the world to show a successful transition to cultured meat. This outstanding real-world example was much more powerful than a lot of rambling debates and lectures.
The third was Tanya Manker, who had a recent surge in popularity. She had already given a lecture predicting a food crisis at a TED conference in the past. However, there was no one to take her seriously in North America, where half the population was obese. It was nothing more than an interesting theory to average citizens, and they just talked about it as gossip for a few days, then forgot about it. At the time, Tanya was advocating for agrarian reform in India and Africa for the relief of the food crisis. However, it was different this time. It was because there was an entirely new way to solve it.
Every market has its tipping point.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m
Tanya, who was giving three lectures a day, was repeating something she had said countless times before at New York University.
A tipping point is when something starts to change drastically. From that point on, the whole world is affected and a lot of things change irreversibly. Its like the subprime mortgage crisis; it passed its tipping point in September of 2007 when the interest reduction policy came out. The Lehman Brothers went bankrupt as the real estate bubble burst, and the whole world went into a huge, uncontrollable mess, Tanya said. There is a tipping point to the food crisis. If we do not take action now, I believe that point will be ten years from now.
Tanya presented a world map on the screen. Many regions were colored either red or blue.
This map is the worlds calorie data: the calories of food produced in each region minus the calories consumed. Countries colored blue are those that have a surplus of calories and are stockpiling or exporting food, Tanya said. Brazil, India, Europe, and many other places have emerged as a calorie powerhouse over the last forty years; they became countries that are self-sufficient and can stockpile and export food. But China has gone from being an exporter to the worlds top food importer.
She pointed to China. It was so fiercely red that there was an obvious difference compared to the other red countries.
What about the future? Tanya asked. Ten years from now, the combined population from Africa, China, and India will be more than half the worlds population. Will Africa and India, which are still blue, follow China in the future? Or will they maintain the status quo?
There was a dead silence among the audience.
Getting the students attention, Tanya said, There are people who are optimistic about the situation. They believe that India, which has succeeded in the Green Revolution, will continue to be a calorie exporter. But that wont happen.
Tanya slowly walked to the front of the stage.
India and Africa are regions with growing economies and populations. What happens in these countries is that existing people in agriculture will start a new business and the rural areas will become developed and urbanized. The land that can produce food decreases while the population rapidly increases, which makes us race towards the tipping point, Tanya said. Forty years ago, China was also a calorie exporter, just like India and Africa. It is likely that India and Africa will follow in Chinas footsteps.
...
At the same time, there was one more thing that people were wondering.
What is Ryu Young-Joon doing?
There was no way he could be this quiet. While rambling debates and spontaneous lectures were happening from all over, Young-Joon hadnt appeared publicly, not even once.
Its because Doctor Ryu is not confident in his cultured meat technology! It is because he does not believe in the food crisis either! Taking the opportunity, Steven shouted whatever he wanted. He just quietly made cultured meat as a meat substitute, but he got scared because the impact was bigger than he thought. And he has a guilty conscience as a scientist because there is no such thing as a food crisis! Doctor Ryu knows that as a scientist; he knows that that third-grade artificial intelligence is useless!
Steven, who finished his lecture, received a round of applause, then started receiving questions. One student raised their hand.
Mr. CEO.
Yes, the female student over there.
Doctor Ryu Young-Joon just published a press release from A-Bio thirty minutes ago.
A press release?
Steven flinched.
* * *
Who could have imagined? When everyone was fighting over cultured meat, Young-Joon was studying something completely different.
Cultured meat? I already created and supplied the technology, and I also suggested a solution to change industries, which can protect workers. I did my job as a scientist. The things happening right now seem to be a political fight rather than a debate about the truth of cultured meat. I am not interested in things like that, Young-Joon said. I will explain the dangers of cultured meat during the legislative hearing. But right now, I dont want to get into this fight. I would like to study something that will be more helpful to farmers with that time.
Young-Joon went on.
I have been using Ms. Tanya Mankers artificial intelligence program. There is a high chance that red mold will spread in the Central United States within ten days. Last year, the corn fields in the eastern and central parts of the United States were hit hard by red mold and had significant crop failures, but they did not use resistant seeds this year and used the same seeds. It was because they believed that red mold was completely eliminated. However, A-Bio confirmed that red mold is still present and in its incubation period in the wheat field a little west from the corn field.
The data that was included in the artificial intelligence as variables were shown.
These are values from entering in information about the type of crop, surface area of harvestation, space in between organisms, and climate. The temperature will fall this Sunday and drastically increase the number of spores. The resulting spores will be carried eastward with the Foehn winds from the Rocky Mountains in the western United States. They end up taking over the central United States, and most of the corn crops will be affected as the organisms are close together and there is no windbreak to block the wind. If Ms. Tanya Mankers program is correct, it is predicted that most of the corn will be infected in ten days, Young-Joon said. Please remove red mold-infected ears immediately and dry them to prevent an outbreak, and please buy and use A-Gens fungicide that was developed last year during the red mold outbreak.
