BeefStuff

Professor Post's famously expensive hamburger is supposed to help feed the world. There are many in favour of this (and other) solutions to our food problems. There are others who are more sceptical.

Dissenters to Professor Post's hamburger generally fall into three categories I am told by my local paper. People who think it's just plain gross to make food in a chemistry lab, people who think it is immoral to play with genetics, and some people are worried about corporate monopoly on our supply of food. Down and dirty descriptions which cannot begin to express the complications of reality. So people who disagree can quickly and easily formulate their arguments against these three points.

I agree with all of them to a certain extent. However, there is a fourth point I find more important than any of them.

We do not need more food.

Adding food to the system* isn't going to help anything, really, and might hurt long term.

Suppose that we increase the amount of available food for human consumption in the world by 2-fold. What would that truly mean? That we would be able to feed twice as many people? Well, break out those Algebra skills**, we've got a few equations we could run. How many people could that support? Twice as many as now? 14 billion? If you think that's an OK number of human beings to be running around, you obviously do not understand what a billion means. Sorry to be condescending. Image twice as many people on your roads. Or twice as many cities. Twice the people in your neighbourhood and in your schools. Twice as many people trying desperately to flee their dangerous country for more prosperous climes. Twice the competition for resources and twice the war.

And then, in 40 short years (our doubling rate. that's 2053, by the way), when we have finally reached 14 billion and the synthetic hamburger cannot feed everyone, we all start starving again. We still have starvation, but now twice as many people cannot get enough to eat.

I think it is more likely we would end up wasting twice as much food. Right now, we probably manufacture enough food to feed everyone. We just throw it all away. I, for example, work at a 'small' elementary school (K-6, approximately 300 kids) in Jefferson County in Colorado, in the US of A. Every day, we throw away enough food to amply feed a village of about 25 people. They'd have to find something else in the summer, maybe a day care, but for 3/4 of the year, we got it covered. We don't even compost it. It's just shipped to the landfill. If we didn't supply the over-wealthy with a thousand percent of what they needed, perhaps there'd be a little left over for everyone else.

We do not show many signs of changing this greedy behavior. The rich in the world do not, as a rule, share. Private schools apparently do not have kindergarten. Distribution is a challenge. Even if this does solve some distribution problems (and doesn't get monopolized by a corporation), it will only create a worse situation.

Right now, all over the world, there is the illusion that we don't have a serious problem. That there is enough food. That we can go ahead and reproduce alls we want. If even more food is supplied, it will reinforce that illusion, but not change the fact that it is an illusion. Then the population will grow again. Now it is a balloon about to pop. So we re-enforce the balloon and pump it up until it is about to pop again. That isn't a solution. It is not long term.

What we really have to do is stop pumping up the balloon. There isn't enough space for other parts of our system. We could grow test-tube burgers until we don't have any real cows left, that'll save a lot of land (space for those 14 billion) and get rid of a profession. Perhaps we can do it with milk and eggs and chickens too. Create burgers out of grasshoppers and eggplant and soy beans.

And then we will have 30, maybe 40 billion people...

Who we will not be able to feed. And we will need a new solution.

It is called "Shifting the burden to an Intervenor" and it is not a stable solution. It does not fix the system. It requires figuring out more and more intense solutions.

*A System:

The universe is a system. It is essentially closed, and infinitely complex. With in the entirety of the universe there are a trillions, quintillions, of other inter-related systems. Like your own body. It is a system complicated enough that we cannot describe the whole equation. Within that, there is your circulatory system, skeletal system, etcetera. Systems are beautiful things. When one thing is changed, that effect ripples through the entire aparatus, eventually affecting other systems around it, which will ripple back. Nothing exists in isolation so that, yes, even the minute beating of a butterflies wings might have astronomical implications in enough time.
 

**Algebra Skillz:

If population continues to grow the way it is now, based on:
Supposing that there is about 1.5 × 10⁸ km² (150 million km²) of land space on earth, 14 billion (1.4 × 10¹⁰ or 140 × 10⁸) people would average out to be 140 people per 1.5 km² (or about half (0.56) square miles). Or would we just double our waste? Fill up our landfills with rotting food faster. Would we still have the disparity in distribution?

or:

N=(N0)e^rt    where:
(N0)=initial population=(N2013)=7E9 (or 7 billion)

e = 2.71828 (the special log number)

r = a rate of 1.7% (or 0.017)

t = 987 years between now and the next millennium

Then by the year 3000, we will have about 1.36E17 people. Or 136 Quadrillion people.

This right here is why we need better mathematics education.

***External Links:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/scientists-serve-up-burger-grown-in-lab-from-cow-stem-cells-for-the-first-time-monday

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d82b9398-fde3-11e2-8785-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2cAygr8If

****PS:

Thinking about population is inherently and enormously depressing. But it is very important to understand.

I'm going to go do something happy. And promise never to have children of my own.

Outside the Box Thought of the Month: the Dozenal System

Counting by dozens is a lot of fun. If only because you aren't used to it. It makes me just laugh as the foundations of my thinking are shaken.

So, in Dozens, what is 9*6? Hmm?

Here is the answer: And many more:

0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  X  E  10

0  2  4  6  8  X  10 12 14 16 18 1X 20

0  3  6  9  10 13 16 19 20 23 26 29 30
0  4  8  10 14 18 20 24 28 30 34 38 40

0  5  X  13 18 21 26 2E 34 39 42 47 50

0  6  10 16 20 26 30 36 40 46 50 56 60

0  7  12 19 24 2E 36 41 48 53 5X 65 70

0  8  14 20 28 34 40 48 54 60 68 74 80
0  9  16 23 30 39 46 53 60 69 76 83 90

0  X  18 26 34 42 50 5X 68 76 84 92 X0

0  E  1X 29 38 47 56 65 74 83 92 X1 E0

0  10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 X0 E0 100

There are a few dozen people around the world who think we should all count like this. Because it is easier. We could teach children elementary math quicker. Even thought it would blow the minds out of the heads of all our adult population. We do not have the teacher to teach this math to elementary students.

No one actually seems to be in earnest about this. They have made a clock, but not a temperature scale. Or an available calculator. Or replacement formulae for important equations easily and publicly available.

The Descent of Google

I pay more attention to technology then I should. It sits in front of me most all the day and I look at the edges of my screen. I notice and "huh" about various things that I see.

When I was in Middle School, I was one of the first kids to start using Google. Because on old computers, around the time of the 56k modem, Google loaded fast. There was no crap all over their home screen, so it was a lot easier to use.

Now, most search engines do this. Google has since moved on to web services. They provide an impressive array of completely free features. Making all their money by selling ads. Well, now they make their money selling phones and operating systems too, but they are still known for ads.

About four years ago, I made the switch to Gmail from Yahoo. Because Yahoo was glitchy and Google could do anything. Yahoo wouldn't let me export my mail. Google had no problem going in and copying it all over for me anyway. I switched to Chrome because I liked how simple it was set up. I like the "omnibox".

But now, Google is getting cumbersome. They can't make mail filters for contact groups, but they do make useless extra groups no one wants to use. You can't make calls with your Google phone number (...except inside Gmail... and only if you don't upgrade; or with someone else's software). Blogger sucks compared to Tumbler, unless you like writing for an audience of none. And Chrome, their favourite little project is slipping compared to Firefox.

At least on my computer.

There's just so many glitches in Google. They have two redundant header-bars. Chrome is slower and slower, especially with Google services like Plus and Blogger. In the 'new compose' in Gmail, I cannot add hyperlinks. Well, I can in Firefox. Firefox rarely fails me. There are a lot of pages that finish loading completely blank in Chrome. Firefox has no trouble. And Firefox is faster, too. Is is possible that my Flash Block and Ad Block are slowing it down that much?

All my bookmarks and crap are over there, though... I might be switching back to what's been the stand-by for over ten years. Good Ol' Reliable Firefox.

The Graduate (1967) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Those who like dry humor, to the point of stale humor, should watch The Graduate. It is somewhat uncomfortable, subtle, strange. A lot of this movie happens in between the lines. My favorite joke were the songs they chose to play and when. They certainly give a sense of foreshadowing. When it was over, I was left saying, "...huh. Well that was weird."

It has a great ending. Which summarizes the entire feel of the movie.

Silver Linings Playbook is a lot more accessible and modern. The production is more easy to watch. I did not laugh out loud nearly as much, but it has a more dramatic feel to it.

The Graduate involves some pretty complex and common themes. Graduating from college and then discovering you have absolutely no idea what to do with yourself being a prime one. It deals with poor decisions in a fun and frank way such as: if you make bad decisions you might not come out on top of them in the end. A bad decision, if it is a doozy, can have some pretty lasting effects on your outlook. Don't fuck around on your family friends.

These are not themes in Silver Linings. It is fun, but it is not particularly complex. It does not really deal with the drama it covers. It mentions them and then glides on by. Its plot is exactly (spoiler!) what a modern Hollywood flick requires, it proceeds just how you would expect and winds up all hunky dory in the end. It is not a vapid movie, however. Here the characters and the family dynamics are what make the movie. Their life exceeds that of the satirical personas of The Graduate.

One of these films is about crazy people. Consequently lively characters. One of these films is about upper-middle to lower-upper wealth people who are far more crazy than the crazy people. Suggesting, to me, that graduating from college does not necessarily mean that you are a good and upstanding person. It reminds me of a study I was told of long ago.

The study (which I was not able to find specifically, but there are some along the same lines) suggested that the standards and the practices in some venerated universities created a criminal mentality in their students. By only passing a certain percentage and failing the rest, no matter how bright, students had to aggressively compete against each other. Willfully putting aside their compassion for their fellow students to make sure that they were the one who passed.

And then, by extension, you have a society that isn't so worried about the pain and frustration of their fellow man, or of their future man, as long as things seem to be going their own way now.

The ending of The Graduate makes the film for me. I love a good ending, one that's a little ambiguous, doesn't imply an ending (because real life never ends), but does close the story appropriately. I was supplied.

#The Graduate #Silver Linings Playbook #movie #movies #film #comparison #1967 #2012 #Dustin Hoffman #William Daniels #Chris Tucker #Bradly Cooper #Jennifer Lawrence

Long Live Pope Francis!

In a world where most of all I do is complain, I would like to take a short moment to say,

Pope Francis, you are a true pope. I appreciate you like I have appreciated no other pope during my cognitive lifetime. Thank you.

I call him a true pope because if the story in Rio. He welcomed people. Talks with them. rather than hide in an armored car. What would Jesus do? Certainly not exalt himself over anyone else. He was supposed to set the example. Which was implied as possible for anyone because he was human. That is the way the story is told to me. He did not live in fear, he did not guard himself. He did not exalt himself. He went and talked to lepers.

The Washington Post advises that we all take a moment to wonder if he really will change anything. Hesitancy is not always a sin, but worrying doesn't accomplish anything. And negativity breeds contept. I am positive there are things about Pope Francis I am not going to like. No one is perfect; there's stuff I don't like about me. Lots of stuff. But I am also a fan of giving people a little benefit until they lose it. And even then, it is good to remember that we are all only human. Francis has so far given a good example. I appreciate it. (By the way, Jon, the catholic church was much more concerned with Galileo's assertion that we revolved around the sun rather than the sun revolving around us. A lot of people understood that the earth was not flat.)

However, I am very sad to learn that Francis is not more supportive of contraception. I would not have expected him to be in favor of abortion, but not endorsing contraception is the same thing in my mind. If people can't protect against a pregnancy, then they will end their pregnancies. Which would you rather have?

Or would we all rather just go to war....?

To be sure, I am not really involved with catholicism. I like religion and study it a bit (read The Religions of Man by Huston Smith. It is a wonderful book) but it's not my house. Still, I was happy to hear he doesn't judge homosexuality (even if he still sees it as a sin), and he wants to allow more opportunities for women in the church (even if its not clergy).

I would agree with Jon O'Brien that this isn't the change I would really like to see. But nothing happens overnight. At least we still have Mrs Melinda Gates giving out catholic birth control. Too bad she can't be pope.

#Pope Francis #Catholicism #catholics #earth #religion #faith #reform #change