Comments by "Rob McCune" (@robm6645) on "Vertical Farming, Mass Incarceration, Panama Papers, Boys Detached From Society" video.

+LabTech Well I am glad that it will optimiziethe algorithms to streamline density for maximal buzzwords. My concern is not so much with the viability of vertical farming, but the inequality of it.
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+LabTech What are the inputs in terms of labor, resources, energy, etc compared to conventional farming?
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There is a crop that is currently farmed inside buildings, and that is marijuana. From what I understand it takes a disproportionate amount of electricity and water.
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LabTech That is a pretty reductive view of both technology and efficiency. Efficiency with respect to what? I don't doubt that a more technically sophisticated operation could do better, but would that drastically reduce the amount of light and water required? I'm skeptical on that point.
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LabTech That it will be so expensive that only certain countries will be able to it, or that it will focus on cash crops rather than staple foods also that it irresponsibly consume resources and not responsibly dispose of it's wastes.
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LabTech Technology does not only exist in a market, it exists in political and social systems as well as environments. How it is used, why it is used, who it will benefit, and what it harms are all as much a part of those systems as it is with the technology itself. I can't tell whether the idea that simple mathmatical models producing very big numbers is the result of naive utopian libertarianism or naive utopian singularitianism.
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LabTech Yes I watched it before you commented. The guy did a better job assuaging my concerns over resources. That said he did mention Monsanto is responsible for a lot of the research into this and that current advanced greenhouses are growing leafy greens for the salads of the first world problems set. And he mentioned grains, the vast majority of the food for the vast majority of the world, were difficult to grown the vertical garden environments.
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