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Don't stand down quite yet, although I think we've come to a wonderful understanding.

You said that any lab product is far riskier then a natural one. I know what you mean by that, but it raises what I think to be an interesting question:

If you were a serious nutritionist who knows pretty much everything that we need to be nominally healthy, shouldn't it be possible to invent a brand new kind of food that (a) has everything you need in a meal while (b) doesn't taste like yeast-covered tofu? I'm not talking about a single food- I'm talking about a Waist-Watcher's variety of related foods that would be easier produce then regular farm-grown stuff, have fewer risky elements, be much healthier and even taste better?

Agriculture is subject to nature, disease, chemicals, increases our carbon footprint (which is why biofuels aren't catching) and causes a mess of other problems. So could we, in theory, break off our addiction to agriculture at the same time we break off our addiction to oil?

I don't know that anyone would try this, or ever get the money for it, and I would be as suspicious as you about something replacing normal, Earth-grown food in my diet. But if there is such a field as theoretical nutrition, shouldn't it be possible? What if our grandkids in forty years are heard to say things like, "Grandpa, did you really eat dead animals? What? AND things that you grew from dirt?"

By the way, I want to say that I totally respect and support the farming industry.