IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2015 - 58

This hamburger was not grown
in an animal, but rather from
bovine stem cells.

an overview of the technology in question [9], but most
participants had little to no prior knowledge of cultured meat. The workshops themselves lasted approximately 3 hours and began with a high-level briefing
that described the research goals as well as cultured
meat and the underlying technology. For the purposes
of the workshops, participants were asked to imagine
that a shift toward ubiquitous factory meat production
would be largely complete by 2050. The briefing was followed by participant introductions, a moderated group
discussion to encourage creative synergy, and a roleplay session where participants were invited to choose
a character (i.e,. doctor, lawyer, high school student,

Food System
Resilience
Bio Diversity

Cultural
Effects

etc.) and describe the world of 2050 from that person's
perspective. This was followed by time allotted for
participants to complete a written questionnaire aimed
at capturing information that may not have been verbalized during the discussion, but was still considered
important to the respondent. Notes were taken during
the discussion portion of the workshop by a dedicated
note-taker who wrote down quotes that could be used
to illustrate the nuances of the ideas discussed, but
did not identify the speaker in order to preserve anonymity. Hence, the workshops encouraged a dynamic,
spontaneous flow of ideas that drew on participants'
personal and professional knowledge and linked the
technical and social aspects of the technology. The
resulting novel and vivid future scenarios were captured
in the workshop notes and participant questionnaires.
Participants in each workshop were asked to discuss
how a transition away from agricultural meat in favor of
ubiquitous cultured meat might affect five aspects of
U.S. society: food in general, human health, family and
education, culture and ethics, and general demographics. While the United States was the focus of the workshops, participants were also invited to comment on a

Family and
Education
General
Demographics

Food System
Security
Economic
Equity

Policy/
Regulation

Nitrogen
Cycle
Phosphorus
Cycle

Animal
Byproducts

Meat
Production

Other
Coupled
Systems

Other Economic
Sectors

Feed
Stocks

Global Trade

Prevailing
Technologies
Consumption
Decisions

Carbon Cycle
Human Health

Land Use
Energy
Consumption

Food Production
and Limits

Water Use
Environment

Ethics/Animal
Cruelty

Food Prices

Usual
Focus of
Discussion

Agricultural
Employment

Global Hunger
and Development

Society

Economy

Figure 2. Systemic representation of meat production. Note that environmental, social, and economic systems are highly
interdependent and neither the factors included here nor the arrows representing causal links should be considered exhaustive. White
ovals represent factors addressed in this paper. Based on [12].

IEEE TEchnology and SocIETy MagazInE

∕

MARCH 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2015