The Big Picture: Feeding Edge

[Mr Smith]

You may think Star Trek, I think Dune.
You may think "for the good of mankind", I think "for the good of the monopolist".

It's not really a scientific problem, it's an economical and social one.
While a farming dynasty can, say, breed the perfect sheep for their benefit, Monsanto and others genetically engineer crop and vegetables to dominate the market.
They even go so far as to "unsex" plants so that they don't produce new seeds which have to be bought for a hefty price every damned year again and sustainability and independence go overboard.

I only fear the day when Monsanto's Sardaukar-crops have eliminated all and every "organic" AKA traditional alternative and some African farmers have to go Fremen on His Imperial Highness' corporate ass.

That's exactly my issue with GM food. In principle, I support the idea of genetically modifying food to improve quality. However, the problem is that most of those doing it (ie. GM food corporations) aren't interested in quality, rather in quantity and market share. The inclusion of 'suicide genes', susceptability to disease and pests, and changing the cehmical makeup of the soil so only that same GM crop can be planted there do more to damage those who could benefit most from GM foods rather than helping them. The fact that approval of GM foods for human consumption was fast-tracked rather than appropriately tested for potential long-term effects makes me doubly suspicious.

As with most things, the GM food issue is an examle of mankind ruining a perfectly good idea.

 

[WaderiAAA]

Interesting story about the carrots there. I think the purple ones look pretty cool, I'd like to try one.

I haven't seen a controversy over genetic food in my country, but many people cry out when there is any kind of science that has to do with human genetics, like checking embryos for genetically transmittable deceases.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

Hello Bob, Russ, and Co.:

Big fan of your informative videos as always, and I really love this series - hearing Bob vent about random topics is a nice addition to my weekly Bob watching. That said, he's by far my favorite part of the series: the visuals are starting to over-ripe, specifically the faces. I had two ideas that you might consider for further production of this series, both related to the... I don't know what you call them, I think of them as 'emotional illustrations':

1: MORE FACES - the visuals on 'To The Movies' don't stale because they mostly consist of media from the topic of discussion, but Big Picture is mostly populated by 'the faces', with the same few being reused multiple times during one episode. It'd be some work, but I think more would be better.

2: LAYERS - What if instead of throwing in the faces intermittently between relevant pictures, you had pictures running in the center of the screen, and then the faces running along in the bottom-left corner. Then they could react not only to what Bob is saying and feeling, but also to what they see in the pictures. Again, a bit more work and more editing than can be done with Movie Maker, but I think it would make the show more compelling.

The visuals certainly aren't the center piece of the series, which is just as well, but they do lend something to Bob's thoughts and wisdom so it may be something to consider.

 

[dalek sec]

I always hated that term, "Frankendfood" it just sounds so ignorant about what it really is. This is one of the many reasons I've stopped listening to the media and those idiot groups who rag on and on about this subject. Nice work on this on Bob.

 

[Optimystic]

The purple carrots thing floored me, I had no idea.

Very informative and great video, but let's keep the microphone-crunching to a minimum going forward Bob...

 

[RTR]

You heard it hear first people.
Cybor food is coming. And it's not pretty.

 

[Wintermoot]

I,m not worried as long as my potatoes dont gnaw my face off

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

If you guys want to see a bit more of how awesome GM foods are, watch this episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit:

Spoiler: Part 1/3

Spoiler: Part 2/3

Spoiler: Part 3/3

The first half of the episode is about dieting, then they talk about GM food.

 

[Swaki]

great video, and im actually willing to take it one step further, if you have ever tasted kobe beef you probably have a extremely rich uncle you once visited in his house (which is larger than the apartment complex i live in) down in florida, where you tasted all sorts of delicious things you could never afford, and then never being invited again because you wanted to go to a museum instead of an alligator farm...okay that may just have been me, but you get the point, kobe beef is freaking expensive, but it doesnt have to be, if we allowed cloning of animals, but alas, cloning sounds even more scary than genetic engineering, heck im all for it and i still piss my pants when someone mentions it.

oh and speaking of things that makes me piss my pants, dude stop using those freaky black/white faces, or if you really like them; make a alternative video just for me where, instead of those scary faces there would be nothing but the title screen, thats all im asking for ^^

 

[chaos order]

i WANT PURPLE CARROTS!!! that is all

 

[Urh]

Nice way to oversimplify a horrendously complex issue, Bob. While some of the hysteria over genetic engineering is unfounded, there are quite a few genuine concerns associated with *modern* genetic engineering, some of which I will very briefly touch on. But first things first - recombinant DNA technology is not simply a more efficient form of selective breeding. Its scope is much wider and allows scientists to do things which are simply impossible through "classical genetic engineering." But at least you went to the trouble of admitting that you were oversimplifying things. Too bad it kinda harms your argument quite a bit.

As for the genuine concerns, they're mostly commercial ones, which is to say the ones that bother me are. When biotech companies started spruiking GM crops they were touting all these great potential benefits such as pest resistance, improved nutrition and higher crop yields. As far as I'm aware their track record hasn't exactly been stellar in regards to delivering on these wonderful promises. One thing just about all GM crops have in common is that the plants are sterile, i.e. they don't produce seeds. This means that farmers have to go begging to the biotech companies every season for new seed to plant (one could go so far as to argue that GM crops are engineered in this fashion purely for profits). As for pest resistance and improved yields - the story of Monsanto's Roundup Ready Soy is commonly cited as an example of the failings of GM crops.

Then there's that rather knotty issue of so-called "gene patents." In general I have serious misgivings about the very concepts of patents and intellectual property (kinda ironic/hypocritical seeing as I have my name on a patent), so I'm probably not the best person to discuss this issue.

And then there's the alleged link between GM crops and declining bee populations. While I've yet to see conclusive research that shows precisely that GM crops are killing bees (and more importantly *how*), if it turns out to be true then this is a pretty big deal (y'know, seeing as how a whole lotta plants rely on bees for the whole sex thing).

 

[Telperion]

Well, duh...?

Some people say our food source has been screwed from the moment we started growing crops that yielded larger amount of cereal. I bet the same people also want us to forget about fire, go back to using stone tools and move into nice stone caves.

 

[Jandau]

This week it was a pretty small picture, as in it looked at a complex issue in an oversimplified manner and ignored some points that are what truly bothers people. Yeah, sure, you have a number of scare-monering idiots who lump all aspects of GenEng together and try to burn it with fire. But that doesn't mean there's no merit to concerns regarding GenEng Food.

See, what really bothers people isn't when species are bred for certain traits (which is GenEng). It even isn't much of an issue when traits inherent in a species "tuned" by science. What bothers people is when crap like fish genes in fruit starts happening. That's what "Frankenfood" (which I agree is a stupid term) reffers to. The potential effects on human health of such mix-and-matching aren't fully explored, but that doesn't stop companies from growing even such food, since as we all know, profit is king.

Yes, there are organizations that are supposed to keep an eye on stuff like that, but there's also corruption and inefficiency in such organizations, so stuff slips through the cracks. And people are worried about it.

Now, don't get me wrong. In general, I'm in favor of GenEng as one of the solutions to the growing problem of feeding the ever-growing fuckton of people on the planet. And in principle, I agree with most of what Bob said in this BP. But blanket dismissal of all possible concerns regarding GenEng food is about as stupid as blindly lashing out against all forms of GenEng simply because it sounds similar.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I don't know, genetics is a giant can of worms. Selective breeding has existed for thousands of years, but even that can have ramifications in the long run. Just look at the meriad of canine afflictions.

We shouldn't be afraid to try new things, but we shouldn't lose our heads in the process.

 

[Varya]

I'd totally endorse any food that promoted itself as frankenfood

 

[Cory Rydell]

the main problem with GMOs is how they are handled. I know science is cool and progressive and all but we need more regulations which there are currently none watching the big GMO companies. A huge problem with what they do is also how they manage the business and keep staples dependant on things like round up, which will slowly just build up in the ocean over years and years until its toxic. A great movie for anyone out there who wants to know the real reasons GMOs are bad is King Corn, a documentary you can get on netflix watch instantly if you have it.

 

[blalien]

Once a week, Bob gets to rant about stupid people? You have the best job in the world.

 

[CronoT]

Me thinks that Bob got the Third Degree from someone over his choice of Christmas Turkey/Goose.

Freaking fear-mongering media.

Trying to make stupid people scared of nothing.

The only thing stupid people need to fear is being stupid. Once they're not stupid anymore, there's not much else to fear; except for, you know, the slow descent of the US into a Fascist Police State.

;-p

 

[mairsil]

You may think Star Trek, I think Dune.
You may think "for the good of mankind", I think "for the good of the monopolist".

It's not really a scientific problem, it's an economical and social one.
While a farming dynasty can, say, breed the perfect sheep for their benefit, Monsanto and others genetically engineer crop and vegetables to dominate the market.
They even go so far as to "unsex" plants so that they don't produce new seeds which have to be bought for a hefty price every damned year again and sustainability and independence go overboard.

I only fear the day when Monsanto's Sardaukar-crops have eliminated all and every "organic" AKA traditional alternative and some African farmers have to go Fremen on His Imperial Highness' corporate ass.

But.....The food must Flow!