Comments by "etherdog" (@etherdog) on "How science saves sweet corn" video.

  1. Hello, Mr Nittany Lion! A point about hunter-gatherers (HG) v early agriculturalists (EA): HGs have been shown to spend a lot less time in food procurement and have egalitarian societies, but they don't have sustainable surpluses but tend towards sustainable maintenance of the environment, whereas the EAs have hierarchical/patriarchal societies where only the elite have leisure time, they can build temporary surpluses, but the stress the environment so much that they suffer frequent collapses. Regarding GM crops, so far all they have done is to enable superbugs and superweeds. Genomes are so rich that normal hybridization, while tedious, offers much more diversification and opportunity for serendipity. While I accept (after careful study of the scientific results) that GM crops are safe to eat, it is clear that the use of GM crops in industrial agriculture is not a sustainable proposition. Soil health depends to a large degree on sequestered carbon. I recommend the podcast How to Save a Planet's episode "Soil: The Dirty Climate Solution" as a good start.
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