Synthetic, Artificial, Sci-fi and Cool

On a regular basis, I go back and forth arguing with friends on the impact of today's discoveries. We brush aside the much-publicized moral dilemmas and focus on the juggernaut, the coolness aspect of each innovation. In the end, whether we speak of genetically modified fruit in our insipid mango juice or the creators of the first synthetic cell, the new rock stars you may say, we seem to agree that the mass consumer will embrace the new as easily as they brush aside the old. But there's a catch. There is one condition - how to prove that the synthetically created, cloned or artificially modified product is just as good if not better than the natural, preservative-free, untouched one? Marketing helps, but preconceived notions are not easy to shake and for a reason too. I, as a consumer, could not care less where or how my food is produced if I couldn't tell the difference; moreover, if I knew for a fact that the new product is enhanced with vitamins without a single side effect much like its good old naturally-born prototype, I'll be the first one in line at the grocery store (a place I still dread to this day). To elaborate, I feel constantly cheated when I shop and know what food labels hide from me as if I were a character from Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" consciously choosing to ignore the truth. There are too many things that are wrong with our society and I need to pick my battles after all!