Genetic Policy
So I forgot if I've said this already, but we really really REALLY need to get past whether genetic engineering of crops and livestock is "good or bad" and get to WHICH KINDS OF ENGINEERING ARE GOOD AND BAD.
This is important, because it's happening anyway, and if we don't make societal and market pressure appear somewhere for it to be the GOOD kind, we'll end up with a "natural" food market that is anemic and an "industrial" food market that keeps coming up with the bad kind of genetic engineering because seriously have you seen this shit.
I haven't worked out what the rules should be exactly, but I can definitely classify a few:
* adding vitamin E to rice so it makes a better staple: GOOD IDEA
* finding, implanting, and sharing sequences that render wheat hearty against diseases: GOOD IDEA
* retrieving sequences from other crops to create new hybrids: NEAT, IF NOT AS NECESSARY AS ABOVE
and then you've got:
* reducing a crop down to one "perfect" genome: BAD IDEA, REMEMBER POTATO FAMINES GUYS
* making minor tweaks and then basically pulling a "well poisoning" to sue farmers in neighboring fields on IP grounds: BAD IDEA, ALSO, EVIL
* making crops "Roundup ready" so they can be grown in a soup of poisons: HOLY FUCK GUYS THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS, LIKE POLLINATORS.
This is important, because it's happening anyway, and if we don't make societal and market pressure appear somewhere for it to be the GOOD kind, we'll end up with a "natural" food market that is anemic and an "industrial" food market that keeps coming up with the bad kind of genetic engineering because seriously have you seen this shit.
I haven't worked out what the rules should be exactly, but I can definitely classify a few:
* adding vitamin E to rice so it makes a better staple: GOOD IDEA
* finding, implanting, and sharing sequences that render wheat hearty against diseases: GOOD IDEA
* retrieving sequences from other crops to create new hybrids: NEAT, IF NOT AS NECESSARY AS ABOVE
and then you've got:
* reducing a crop down to one "perfect" genome: BAD IDEA, REMEMBER POTATO FAMINES GUYS
* making minor tweaks and then basically pulling a "well poisoning" to sue farmers in neighboring fields on IP grounds: BAD IDEA, ALSO, EVIL
* making crops "Roundup ready" so they can be grown in a soup of poisons: HOLY FUCK GUYS THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS, LIKE POLLINATORS.