[frithsun]

A swing and a miss. The future of materials is going back to plant fiber; wood, hemp, etc. There will be plenty of fancy composite materials for specialty applications; but our world has been made out of plastic for generations now and updated, improved plant fiber materials will replace it as the affordable, more sustainable, and equally functional alternative.

[lukan]

"There will be plenty of fancy composite materials for specialty applications"

There are a lot of "specialty applications" I think, where plant based material is not ideal. Otherwise I agree.

[AYBABTME]

Why? Can you name a few example current alternatives and upcoming contenders?

Are we talking far-tech where plants and other biome actors are engineered to produce materials in a particular shape and manner?

[calgoo]

Bamboo is one material that has seen some traction in replacing plastic, especially in kid food items etc. however they do break easier. Hemp is also finally starting to have a real comeback but still has a lot of roadblocks ahead because of almost a decade of “bad press”.

[simmo9000]

It is a financial question... Which product makes most profit, in whole? Whole includes, in part, "The Commons".

[dzhiurgis]

When?