Cultivated meat and Jurassic Park

Recently, as conservative states ban cultivated meat, I’ve heard some proponents of the technology argue we should act as if it isn’t happening. Their argument is any response to these restrictions will encourage conservatives to draw the new protein further into the culture war. If there must be a response, they say, let it come from other conservatives.

I try to listen to this argument with an open mind as I have a great deal of respect for the people making it. Many of them have done more for animals than I could ever hope to do. And yet, when I hear them talking this way, I’m reminded of a scene from Steven Spielberg’s classic 1993 film Jurassic Park. A Tyrannosaurus rex is pursuing a group touring an island resort.

Dr. Alan Grant, played by Sam Neill, tells the man beside him to keep absolutely still, as the creature’s vision is based on movement. So far as I know, this statement has no scientific basis, but it adds a great deal of suspense to the movie. It’s an effective bit of artistic license. Elevating Grant’s warning to a political strategy, however, leaves a lot to be desired.

I think of this as the Jurassic Park theory of politics. It’s an argument made by progressives that says if you stay absolutely still, the conservatives won’t attack you. Of course, if you stay absolutely still, you can’t make any progress! In the case of cultivated meat, I believe the hope is science will do all the hard work of change.

I don’t discount the power of technology to revolutionize the world. However, it doesn’t happen automatically. The idea cultivated-meat proponents could replace animal agriculture — a 10,000-year-old practice — without anyone noticing or caring is absurd. Political conflict is inevitable, if cellular agriculture is the threat to the status quo we hope it is.

The aforementioned state bans are the opening salvo in that conflict. If we don’t demonstrate there is a constituency that supports cellular agriculture, the only groups politicians will hear from are panicked representatives of the slaughtered-meat industry, hoping to eliminate a potential competitor.

At the risk of sounding overly cynical, politicians are generally going to move in the direction in which they are pushed. Sometimes they don’t even need to be pushed. They just move in the direction they anticipate they will be. Given the nature of their coalition, by and large, Republican leaders won’t be receptive to cultivated meat.

In the United States’ two-party system, our vehicle for advancing cellular agriculture is the Democratic Party. That doesn’t mean Democratic leaders will support our goals spontaneously. They’re also going to want to travel the path of least resistance. We need to show them there are progressive voters who back cultivated meat.

Otherwise, there will be more Democratic politicians, like Senator John Fetterman, who opportunistically endorse bans on cellular agriculture. We can’t afford — as Dr. Grant advised in Jurassic Park — to keep absolutely still. The conservatives will see and attack us either way.