Just as long as we don't paint ourselves into a corner.
8 Ways Privatization Has Failed America Free-market health care has been taking care of the CEOs. Ronald DePinho, president of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas, made $1,845,000 in 2012. That's over ten times as much as the $170,000 made by the federal Medicare Administrator in 2010. Stephen J. Hemsley, the CEO of United Health Group, made three hundred times as much, with most of his $48 million coming from stock gains.
'Paying Till It Hurts': Why American Health Care Is So Pricey
Well, ATVs get around ok. Even caterpillar tracks are just a form of elongated wheel. They have little problem with rough ground. Just look at the moon and Mars rovers. True, they don't move far, but they can get around. And remember there are vast tracts of flat lands here on Earth - the prairies, steppes, savannah, etc on which wheels would move freely and efficiently if Nature had evolved them.
Its interesting that Nature did evolve an alternative, and more efficient form of motion than standard legs - that used by Macropods and similar animals (although they are still, of course, legs). Storing "elastic energy" is much more efficient than using muscle contraction all the time. So why isn't that form of motion much more common around the world? There are a few examples, such as jerboas, but you'd expect a lot more. Maybe if there is sufficient food, efficiency doesn't matter so much. So even when that particular evolutionary niche has appeared, it doesn't mean it's going to be universal. And then, of course, there are the tree kangaroos!...
Indeed, but it's limited to that size of organism. It could not scale up. I guess it bears a greater similarity to a propeller than a wheel, anyway.
in an ever-expanding universe there aren't any corners.
i'm more concerned at present with the "all the eggs in one basket" trap we are already in. once we have viable colony ships off towards other stars (in whatever forms) then things get more interesting.
in terms of diaspora, genetic changes, modifications, etc. if they are engineered and understood then they can be reversed. more likely though we'll have a large number of humanoid variants, some which would no longer be biologically or socially compatible (the only thing added there is the biological incompatibility as it's pretty clear to me that many cultures are already socially incompatible anyways).
as far as costs/profits/investments/markets/etc. that's too far afield.
however, to think of it realistically, if you could modify your germ line to correct an otherwise constantly bothersome problem of your existing form that would be one of the most cost-effective investments in the future health of your decendents that you could ever make. what would that be worth? billions? trillions?
I guess I worry more about the species. Remember we just did a big chat up about Superwheat.
The 'superwheat' that boosts crops by 30%: Creation of new grain hailed as biggest advance in farming in a generation Researchers have cross-bred modern wheat seed with ancient wild grass Trials proved the 'superwheat' crop is more resilient and disease resistant
-----
The point was that diversity had been bred out of modern wheat. You mentioned teosinte, which is a reservoir of genetic tricks for corn. We need these cave dwellers. We can't throw-away the accumulated wisdom of
4.5 billion years.
The point I'm trying to make is that the perfect man for today, may not be the perfect man for tomorrow, and he may not be so good for the day after that.
If you are depressed, you are living in the past.
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, You are living in the present. - Lao Tzu
i did not nor will i ever say that we should throw away anything along the lines of any existing species, but that it is very likely future generations will spin off from the basic germ line we already have established much like we have mutations and selection acting on current species via existing mechanisms. it's just that we're likely to do it much faster and with a more directed (i.e. designed) focus.
there will always be peoples like the Amish who have no truck with genetic tinkerings directly.
the perfect person for what?
the perfect person for space travel may be different than the perfect person for gardening in the desert.
yes, so that means they still have the generalist available. i was just looking at Einkorn. doesn't look threatened.
some seed lines are so ancient we haven't been able to find the exact sources yet (corn being one), but the sources may still exist in some corner of the world. a lot left to be known.
The point that you seem to be dancing around is that modern cultivars have lost much of their genetic diversity, and to breed new cultivars to resist present conditions the full genetic repertoire is needed. The repertoire that was lost because of selective breeding. Why would one think that breeding humans would be any different?
Whether h*mo sapiens become Borg, or readily malleable GMOs, humanity's best chance to endure is to hold on to ALL of our survival tricks, biological, and technological.
the idea that some base human stock will supply a better path forwards is likely a false one if the designer has the knowledge it would take to redo organisms from scratch.
we are not there yet. we are still in the baby-step stage.
the future will likely be vastly different than you or i can imagine. but it is still fun to try.
sounds to me like an erronious assumption or unsupportable claim.
if you know what genes/mutations are involved then there's nothing keeping those from being included in other seeds. i think GM technology is heading that direction.
we have ancient seed lines to work with if we need them.
there's nothing which prevents further mutations from happening or other changes to be introduced as needed. at least in theory...
we don't breed humans as much as we breed other animals or plants, but that is likely to change.
anywys, the basic human stock of DNA is already sequenced in several ways, and more copies are already being collected and compared and worked with.
i don't think there is any danger of that being "lost" as long as there is some kind of technical society left to understand the meaning of the sequences.
an active designed with a vast store of knowledge and sequences is unlikely to worry about losing something.
tell me what can be lost?
here is only one example of information being collected:
Ah yes, in that great rising up morning, bye and bye, when we know everything, then nothing will be too hard for humanity to fix. It will be wonderful.
In the meantime, we walk in the dark, barking our shins on coffee tables, and running into walls.
well then tell me, what would you do knowing that in some number of years the planet earth, the sun and most of the local system will be gone or uninhabitable?
do you think that we are stuck on this planet forever without recourse?
Mr. Fukuoka and his natural farming would say that we are not meant to know nature, that science is useless, that nature is perfect, etc. to be happy is to be a farmer and doing as little as possible. which is a nice way to go for some, but others like to engineer and design and tinker. why is the way of the tinker outlawed in nature?
yes, i know that only so much can be changed at a time if nature is to continue in some forms and still be able to function. i'm not talking about obliterating nature or any species that currently exist. i just wonder where those concerned about nature and sustainable agriculture can find some common ground with the makers and designers.
anyways, those are the thoughts of today...
in other news, got some of the turnip seeds and buckwheat seeds scattered and watered in. starting also to get tomatoes turning color. the weather this week is forecast sunny, sunny, sunny and getting warmer. so we'll have a chance of it. will have to water.
Planning ahead is a good thing, but looking out some 5 billion years might be pushing the envelope some.
What are you going to do in a few years when you're gone, or non-viable? (I'll sign a petition, if you like. ;O)
The trouble with going away is where ever you go, there you are.
I've never really felt "stuck" on this planet, even if there is no way for me to walk home.
Mr. Fukuoka is a wise man. You have your family and friends with barbecues, and cheating at cards afterwards, on the week-ends. There are the plants, and animals to know, and the smell that comes after the rain, the flowers of spring, tending the garden, a cooling swim on a hot day, stars to look at, the colors of harvest, the migrating geese, the sound of rain.
It is?
I doubt that people could be prevented from tinkering whether it's crating and transporting fire, or making a sharp edge, or peering over the edge of the Standard Model to see what else is out there.
I don't see a contradiction, as long as I don't have to eat their experiments before they are proved to be safe. But what of the day when people only exist in the conceptual reality between their ears, as "tweakers" do, and that "consciousness" can be transferred to a chip (solid state drive) in a mechanical, inorganic, ageless being. The day that humanity leaves nature behind.
Then we can talk about whether life is worth saving.
The squash has arrived in all its glory. One zucca, and one crookneck are producing all we can eat, and the zuchs haven't started yet. The cucumbers and lettuce are starting to hit their pace. We have tomatoes most of the week, but it's only the nose of the camel. The peppers have been sporadic, but now the heat is on us again, after a 6 week departure. Our weather guesser keeps forecasting 80s F, and we keep getting 90s F.
Work starts in about 2 weeks, and I'm hustling to finish up my projects.
The thunder from the YouTube video posted above reminds me that it's too bad those inorganic beings of the future aren't here yet. Chili beans for dinner tonight, with the usual reaction products expected tomorrow. ;O)
"To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." - Mahatma Gandhi
yes, but perhaps it's not 5 billion years ahead when we face a planet busting asteriod that we can't detect or dodge or the next ice-age (but perhaps global warming will be good for something after all)...
so you're answer so far is "do nothing" too?
if you like signing petitions and putting some action behind it try the one at the National Geographic newswatch website for restoring water flow to the Colorado River Delta. also, Sandra Postel and others have plenty of interesting articles/reading at the Water Currents section.
as for me, not sure yet, the worms and other soil critters get to digest me, beyond that i'm not decided yet because a lot depends upon if i stay here or move someplace else. the older i get the more likely i'm not going to have the energy to start all over again from scratch, but that is what i would really like to do.
i've always been happy with my own company.
i don't feel stuck, but we are near the bottom of a deep gravity well which costs a lot to escape. it may not be stuck, but it's darned close if we have to get away quick.
the question to be answered at present is if humans can transfer enough of our environment to another closed system (space-ship, colony on the moon, mars, or asteroid) so that it can be self- sustaining. if we cannot figure that out then we are stuck or we must change to a different form which does not require such an extensive support environment.
his form of happiness is not universal. not everyone wants to be a farmer. some people find their happiness in discovery or in other artistic ways.
no matter what it doesn't get us into space before lights out.
yep, so he's not so wise after all?
one of his claims in the book of his i just re-read (natural farming methods) was that the earth could support 60 times the population (around 5 billion when he wrote) if it would eat grains and vegetables. can you imagine our world of 300 billion people? even if you strip things down to very basic support for water and calories and force everyone under ground i still don't think the earth can support that many of us and still have wild areas. already we see limits based upon fresh water availability for the 7 billion and the future is looking very interesting already just at this level of ecosystem disruption and exploitation...
while i agree with the general sentiment, previously there were (and still are) plenty of things in the world that are not safe to eat, yet we abide.
i'm looking forwards to the day when we know a lot more about GMOs in food crops.
enough people would argue it is no longer life anyways (the current ancients complain that their children don't have much of a life as it is and i'm ancient enough that i see their point).
funny. we might hit 90 next week.
our own bit of humour is that we have cherry tomatoes that are yellow to golden colored, i've been waiting for them to get red... that is what happens when you plant mystery tomato plants. we sure don't need six cherry tomato plants (for two people). they will go into the mix when canning juice for sure, and salsa if we make any this season.
don't freak out! deep breaths, in, out, slowly, there ya go...
simulations are often a necessary step in understanding any suitably complex system. :)
no-till wasn't popular then. there's a bit in _Seven Years in Tibet_ which we enjoyed when they were building the movie theatre and the people digging would not dig any more until they found a way to rescue each worm uncovered.
You taking lessons from tx.guns now? They love to tell you that you said something (that you didn't), and then disprove it in they own, inimitable, logic free fashion.
Seems that's where you'd be going after saying that perhaps global warming will be good for something. I doubt that it will be good for the starving, homeless refugees.
You want to kill Arizona's golf courses? TERRORIST! It's a job killer.
I'll probably be moving soon too. I hate to leave this hill, but we're getting too old to live on a slope. Living on the flat makes so many things easier.
When you consider how much we (Homidea) have changed in the last 2 million years, if we are still around when the Sun goes "red giant" I'd be surprised if we recognized our descendants.
The Calvinist "work-ethic" can be over come.
Relax, your descendants may yet be able to transport to the star of their choice, and tomorrow's science will indeed look like today's magic.
We call it diversity. Life doesn't give me meaning. I give meaning to life. YMMV
That's why provenance has given us a liver, but it only protects against what already exists, not the new toxin on the block.
I'll take that in a good way, and not when we find out what they may have done to us.
The way I heard it is that there are hieroglyphics on the pyramids that say that the world is going to hell in a hand basket, and it is proven by the behavior of the young.
So are we, but if the weather gueser is true to form, it will closer to
100F.
What a Pollyanna I am. Work starts Tue. at 9AM. So many projects still to finish. I hope they have the AC cranked up.
In this heat, it is more like panting ;O) The peppers are loving it though.
Prediction confirmed;O)
To be fair, he did say "dig".
Oh, were the Jainists putting them on again? What a sense of humor. Maybe they should have hired Confucianists.
when you've had two chances to answer a direct question and wander around it yet again?
if an ice-age started in the next 30 years? if the one offset the other?
perhaps there will not be the disruption and refugees?
if we get hit by the cosmic/comet lotto the whole exercise may become rather moot.
if the golf courses were supplied with recycled water and if they didn't use *cides i wouldn't say much about them. better yet, if they were mowed with sheep and green energy lawn mowers, then my opposition goes down even further. i'm no big fan of dead spaces and wasted water or energy, but in contrast that green space may be less negative impact on an area than leaving it as pavement, parking lot or bare roof tops. if we could take advantage of that green space (in the roughs and the other edges) to provide habitat for bees and other wildlife then we might actually gain some level beyond what is liable to happen in an otherwise arid region. take it up another notch to using the space as a provider of green manure, fodder, fruits, veggies and open to the poor for free then you've got a bit more of my support.
the bad news:
formatting link
and some good news:
formatting link
i hope you can find a good place to be.
my guess is we'll have split into thousands of new variants by then. some recognisable and others not.
Calvinist or Protestant?
i've actually done a decent job of it myself. at a fairly young age i decided i wanted off the common treadmill and made consistent choices after that to get there. i made the leap off at age 33.5
no decendents of me. i'm a genetic dead end.
like many i would like to think that i provide meaning too, but a hundred years from now the likelyhood of being remembered or understood is faint. so i don't get a big head.
always a good idea to let someone else go first. :) "yeah, you eat all those GMOs you want and i'll try to avoid them and keep an eye peeled for toxic effects in you and your children."
yes, i sure hope it works out ok, that we've not crossed some point of no return.
haha, that would be funny indeed.
today was a prime example. forecast to go into the mid 80s, but it didn't make it to 80. still the sunshine is appreciated. gotta water some bit every day to keep everything happy. better to spread it out so that we don't have to draw on the well so heavily at any one time.
:) get your pipettes ready!
yes, the peppers are coming along well here too.
finally was able to pick about 10lbs of tomatoes today. some BER in the smaller romas that were developing about a month ago in that heat wave we had. this round of heat there is much more cover and mulch to help.
my condolences to all affected.
ever since we started growing more dry beans i've gradually increased fiber and while it has special moments of regret the overall improvement is well worth it.
i can dig it.
just a movie, but amusing anyways as it happened we first watched it when i was starting with the small scale worm farm.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.