Michael Pollan: The omnivore's next dilemma

[wisebbq1]

I hate this guy

[bjo0404]

Sounds like the way to go

[ilovegrumpybear1]

What a smart guy.

[Tuuliska]

This video just gave me so, SO much more hope than I've had in ages, worrying about the ecosystem and the human overpopulation and the horrible problems in Africa...

Figures that something so simple and natural turns out to be the best way to go... and the way that might end up saving us as a species.

Seriously, this idea needs to be spread all over the world.

[Pianofy]

Brilliant :)

[SSQC23]

Return to nature, God's medicine

[strongness13]

Wow! This guy is sooooo smart. Why didn't anyone ever think of these things? Wait a minute, we have! My grandfather raised four children implementing the same strategies. My grandfather and father have been growing "organic" food for decades, way before it was cool. Come on people, he's not that cool. It just makes sense, and its extremely obvious. Self righteous arrogant "intellectual."

[movewithtao]

@strongness13 why are you calling him self righteous? He is helping people realize the importance of sustainable agriculture. Jealousy is a big problem with people who want to do good. We tear others down even though we share the same goals

[strongness13]

@movewithtao He is self righteous. He speaks to individuals who have no concept of reality. I know that may sound mean, but it's true. He plays to people emotions, just like Oprah, HSUS, etc. He doesn't speak about reality. Sure his concepts are great, but answer me this, do you see any individuals in starving Africa complaining about animal welfare issues? Don't get me wrong I'm all for animal welfare, in fact I took an oath before entering veterinary school.

[movewithtao]

@strongness13 You write a lot but say almost nothing of substance. You seem to be parroting someone else's argument, and doing a poor job at it. I eat meat, and I eat free range, grass fed whenever possible. Healthier animals make me healthier. This is logic. To think that we can only raise enough protein in factory farms is nonsense: yes you can raise more heads of cattle in a factory, but how much land, and energy, is required to grow their feed (not to mention the factories waste)

[strongness13]

@movewithtao It is hard for me to write with substance when I only have 500 characters. I'm currently a 2nd year veterinary student with a masters of science in veterinary science. If you want to read a bunch of stuff you won't understand, ask me about herd production management and medicine. You are right it takes a lot of land to grow food for animals, but the beef/dairy/poultry/swine farmers are a lot more efficient then you give them credit.

[movewithtao]

@strongness13

OK 2nd year student. Look, these factory farms are ruining the land, ruining small farms and ruining our health. That's why former presidential candidate john edwards called for a ban on them. If these factories were responsible for the waste they spewed out into the community they would be devastated financially. If their feed (corn) wasn't subsidized they would go out of business as well. Take your junk biased science and read a book that's not from your feedlot university

[strongness13]

@movewithtao Where are your facts? I read scientifically peer reviewed papers. Have been since I graduated high school in 2002. What "junk biased science" I write from is derived from esteemed individuals in the scientific community. Essentially, individuals who have paid their dues in academia and through at least 8 years of higher education (Doctors). If you don't want to listen to what individuals like us have to say, then there will be no changing your junk biased ignorance.

[RamadaArtist]

@strongness13 Except that any esteemed biologist would support the major tenants of biodiversity which Pollan talks about here (in not so many words) in the place of monocropping (or mono-meating) which, while perhaps "efficient" for total throughput, is ecologically unsound, and, in particular, genetically unhealthy. Short term veterinary practices may keep a living stock healthy, but as the genetic pool becomes homogenized it is susceptible to wide spread disease. History agrees.

[strongness13]

@RamadaArtist It is true that a lack of biodiversity in the genetic pool leads to an increase in overall disease susceptibility. (i.e. a lack of haplotype diversity in the molecular rearrangements of MHC I and II). However, these animals not only serve as a food source but also as research subjects throughout academia. Therefore the very animals that are becoming susceptible to emerging disease are also being protected with new biotechnology (sometimes applicable to humans).

[strongness13]

@RamadaArtist I don't condone the idea of decreasing biodiversity, and neither do producers. They implement registered programs to ensure that semen/breeding stock come from diverse genetic background. Keep in mind Ramada, we're not talking about a rainforest/cheetah population; we're talking about animals within our food production systems. It a lot of cases it is easier to control the quality, production efficiency, and medical Tx of animals that are genetically similar.

[strongness13]

@movewithtao I only presented my arguments because there is a huge disconnect between the general public and the veterinarians/producers. Look at Prop 2, no veterinarians were involved in its development. This is a common theme across America with various other props. Pollan has a M.S., he is a journalist, not a scientist, or a health care professional. Use your common sense, listen to veterinarians (not me, ask one with a DVM), ask an individual with a PhD, not a journalist that gardens.

[daemonite06]

@strongness13 Very strong arguments in a defined and well backed manner!

[strongness13]

@movewithtao I noticed you referenced John "ambulance chaser" Edwards. Nice source of legit information. This argument will never concluded because your disillusioned ideals receive his advice with open arms. The man is a lawyer, not a animal producer/veterinarian/animal scientist. As far as you are concerned Pollan craps gold and "factory" farms are WMDs. Learn real facts, I won't be reading conspiracy theory info anytime soon, I'll stick to experimental/epidemiology and peer reviewed papers.

[strongness13]

@movewithtao As far as manure goes you should read a bit on the USDA site about CAFO, NPDES & the EPA standards of deposition of manure as fertilizer. I hope I replied with "substance," like I said I can write you a dissertation on nullifying the arguments Pollan brings up. One more thing, the animals you eat via feedlot farms are healthy. It does the producer no good to raise unhealthy animals in an inhumane manner, think about it, the animals are their livelihood.

[movewithtao]

@strongness13 Raising cattle on a pasture is more effective as you minimize the inputs required. Cows eat grass, which is solar energy. Their fertilize the land with their manure which reduces the use of petrochemical fertilizers as their waste is good for the land. The problem with this is that it takes a great deal of intelligence and attention. That is why big corporate farms want you to think it is impossible. Make the factories deal with their waste and they won't turn a profit.

[strongness13]

@movewithtao Yes, cows eat grass ( and anything ranging from sawdust to cotton seed) which is then broken down by microorganisms in their rumen and converted to free fatty acids which are then absorbed and converted to molecules in various biochemical processes in the production of amino acids, sugars, and lipids. If you want I can give you a tour of the anatomical/physiological processes that take place in the bovine species.

[strongness13]

@movewithtao In addition, cattle raised on pasture is not more effective, although a lot of cow-calf operations do free range their cattle (look at northern Idaho and Oregon). Finishing cattle on feedlots is a highly effective way to minimize the exposure to various pathogens. Keeping animals infected with Salmonella (for example) sequestered from the rest of the herd decreases the likelihood of them transmitting the pathogen to the rest of the herd. Simple epidemiology.

[strongness13]

@movewithtao The reasoning of your first sentence if flawed, although intuitively it sounds like it would make sense. You can't look at all 500 head on a feedlot a lot faster than you can on 500 ha. If any of the cattle are showing ill thrift on a feedlot, you can quickly pull them and put them in a hospital pen for further evaluation. There are very few parasite infections on feedlots. This is due to the tight control measures and LACK of environmental exposure.

[strongness13]

@movewithtao New animals are quarantined when they first arrive to feedlots. This decreases the chances of spread of non-endemic pathogen. I don't know if you've been our riding fences and know the differences between feedlot and range grown cattle farmers, but they are both extremely intelligent. Believe it or not some of the largest corporations in the animal production business are private businesses that have been farming for decades.

[strongness13]

@movewithtao "...benefit of society through the protection of animal health and welfare, the prevention and relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources..." Let me ask you this, have you ever heard an animal scientist, veterinarian, or any non ecology biologist ratify Pollan's stuff? Sure I'll tear him down, his ideals and his political agenda, as well as HSUS and other groups, will cause a protein source infrastructure implosion.

[strongness13]

@movewithtao Everyone wants cattle to be like Ferdinand, running through the fields kicking at butterflies. Sorry people it's not like that. Human's didn't evolve the brain capacity and the ability to advance socially and culturally eating broccoli alone, we developed weapons and hunted, then we domesticated beasts that would turn us PROTEIN. Protein the basic building blocks of the majority of advanced creature organic composition.

[EATshitanddrinkbleac]

@strongness13

beans =/=protein

[BaileysBeads]

@EATshitanddrinkbleac quinoa however...

[strongness13]

@movewithtao If you want to argue with me about how ridiculous Pollan's arguments are and how unsupported they are then you need to read a few (scientifically and logically supported) books and peer reviewed papers, then we can talk. Until then I will continue to tear Pollan down, along with all the other animal welfare groups. There is no way that we can sustain human population, globally, without the animal management practices we currently implement.

[strongness13]

@movewithtao BTW I was mocking him. My grandfather was a self made farmer, who did what he had to do. He provided via the sweat of his brow and the calluses on his hands. Things are different then what you think, Food Inc., Pollan's books, or Oprah are only giving you the information they think you want to hear. All in the hopes to sway your voting and donations. Look at HSUS (human society of U.S.). I challenge you to look at the $ they give to local humane societies, then look at their budget

[riccer24]

This is easy for people to jump on board with, but not necessarily the truth. Everyone should check out Dr. Oppenlander's lecture, "Comfortably Unaware" on the truth about how sustainable grass fed beef really is.

[movewithtao]

@riccer24 Dr. Oppenlander states that people in the 1910's died at 48-50 due to eating excessive animal products. No facts were given, only opinion. The 1910's had a huge problem with food scarcity which is more likely to be the reason for lower life expectancy as well as poor factory working conditions.

Cattle can be raised on land that is unsuitable for crops, such as sloped land. They grow from solar power (grass) and they produce high quality manure which replaces fertilizers

[sonsun08]

What I fine systems thinker! I've just ordered most of his books today. Pollan also represents an important counterpart to the food industry. I support his mission to educate ourselves on the subject of food as it will become increasingly important to reverse the damage done to the planet by the century of commercial agriculture.-

[CandyCrayon91]

Ooooh! I'm reading his book 'In defence of food' right now! Very interesting to listen to him speak =)

[drumlvr107]

Eating meat and animal products is a messy, endlessly complicated issue that we can't possibly attempt to oversimplify. Peoples with vegetarian lifestyles that are part of a CUISINE are probably adaptive for that environment. Vegans can't even escape some contribution to the death of some living organism somewhere. We can't deal with death or 'disgusting' because we don't want to be likened to animals, though we share many of their qualities. Sigh. <3 you, Pollan.

[slytown]

Fuck ethanol. :)

[TheObnubilators]

What book of his is he most referencing in this talk?

[Xylemdrinker]

the omnivores dilemma. definitely read it, it is brilliant and really fun to read.

[htoromoreno]

I think this sounds more like Pollan's "Botany of Desire" ... IMHO

[matshroom]

the omnivores next dilema!

[eatingperson]

Do you think it's possible for him to extend his arms downward to an angle larger than 90 degrees?

[kpacuBua]

9:30 he does it :)))

[Tarciryan2]

Argh can't unsee....

[Awedree]

People have biochemistry too--I believe there are forms of human communication that haven't been fully understood yet, such as pheromones. Maybe there are even subconscious forms of human communication that haven't been discovered yet.

[AnonymousCthulhu]

Pollan is the only author who has written material I have been able to read and thoroughly enjoy. Awesome! :D

[shakaama]

so this is a single farmer? not a big corporation? why are farmers going broke and disappearing to corporations?

[baltoczar]

lol forget Darwin, God is so good, He's a genius!!

[Kimmathykay]

He looks like Stanley Tucci! :)

[buybulkwhey]

Just finished his book In defends of food... 5 stars!

[BoingotheClown]

I wonder where I can learn more about polyphase farming.

[tombuckland]

It's "PolyFace" actually, Joel Salatin is the farmer if you're interested.

[crock703]

Yes. The farmer's website and his books -- look up Joel Salatin.

[NyRamsey]

wooooow.....

[zenmama88]

Lima beans blow my mind!

[Mongodelight]

dont you think its very subjectiv if humans figure out if cooking is good or bad? i mean you only see what you want to see.

[DaveNC72]

I can appreciate this, but it's a bit fluffed. You are responsible over what is given to you to care for.

[wahnano]

Cannabis Sativa, Man Under-Stand :0)

[jgsaad]

idiot

[johnnyavacado2]

Keep talking, keep writing.

[nubbs]

100 acres, PLUS the 450 of forrest, though. but still, impressive.

[AdventGuard33]

manipulated by corn? FUCK YOU MASON!

[thesumofparts]

Truly fascinating stuff! Great video.

[ssproutz]

very good - thanks TED

[marcus3379]

His mouth/lip/tongue smacking is annoying.

[pilibeen]

Your whining is annoying.

[accent0mel]

The bit about the permiculture farm from around minute 12:00-the end is simply facinating. The rest maybe hearsay and conspiracy theory, etc... but the farm is enlightening.

[bombilla42]

Uhmmm...where exactly is the "conspiracy theory" element of his lecture?

[dustyloup]

that we are being used by "nature" in order to further their agenda. That the gardener is being controlled by nature as much or more than the gardener is controlling nature.

[dLimboStick]

I've already come to this conclusion long ago and voiced it to my sons when we were talking about out theory of alien life. It is our conceit that make us look for or even care that there is "intelligent life" out there.

[windex72]

Elegantly put ,but I was taught this in grade school. Interesting stuff about the farm, though.

[ecorevolutionery25]

I completely agree with pondman27, in these days people are so worried with working and earning more and more money that we simply forgot nature; the beauty in the simple things of life. I've lost the connection with are ancestry, like the Indians, and the way they respect and admire nature.

[sexyloser]

Yes, like how the theory of relativity was very popular in the 1910s...

You are a moron.

[RabidApe]

frickin' excellent! thanks for sharing, TED!

[LadyOlivia35]

This guy is a wonderful writer. His "Botany of Desire" is beautifully written. I wish I could have him as a professor!

[publickprofile]

Does anyone else think it's a coincidence that his last name is Pollan? There is some talk of evolution mixed in. And the idea of people being manipulated by plants. It sounds like part of the big dehumanization agenda to me. All authors are authorized anyway. You're simply not going to get any real grassroots ideas from mainstream writers. It's coming from the top down, the new religion is GREEN, worship of mother earth.

[windex72]

oh christ..

[patternsinchaos]

"the final triumph of corn over common sense"

This man is a JEWEL!

[patternsinchaos]

"Looking at the world from other species points of view is a cure for the disease of human self-importance." *whack*

[patternsinchaos]

"entertaining insights about human desire" *blam*

[dar482]

What the hell is this stuff...

[yasmina665]

i love this guy  wish i could marry him

[11889music]

also, it is probable that we are food for billions of micro-organisms. so, who is

really 'winning'?

no one is winning because are separation is illusory.

stop being the part that acts as the whole!!

and why not deny humans the right to eat meat??? it is MUCH more efficient to grow beans/rice/potatoes than raise cattle... . . .

[yasmina665]

thankyou.i agree!

[11889music]

also, it is probable that we are food for billions of micro-organisms. so, who is

really 'winning'?

no one is winning because *our separation is illusory.

stop being the part that acts as the whole!!

and why not deny humans the right to eat meat??? it is MUCH more efficient to grow beans/rice/potatoes than raise cattle... . . .

being a vegetarian is a very

efficient way to live!

[notretsechkg]

>it is MUCH more efficient to grow

No it's not -- unless you are talking about the industrial food factory feedlot beef where we cram down their throats the monocropped corn and soy raised on diesel and petroleum pesticides and herbicides. It's not efficient to deprive the land of the grazing animals that adapted for thousands of years right along with the grasses. Doing so only breaks the natural cycle, depleting the land of phosporous and many other trace minerals.

[11889music]

DEPRIVE?!?!?

Since we arrived here in the U.S. the number of cows that are being raised for slaughter has probably tripled (if not more, that is a guess), but look it up before you talk about these things.

Also, just because the earth needs these grazing animals doesn't mean that we were meant to eat them you moron!

[notretsechkg]

It's not efficient to feed people a strictly vegetarian diet that will cause serious health defects over time -- you absolutely cannot get certain key vitamins from plants (in bioavailable form).

[11889music]

Well, that is an entertaining opinion. Until you show some evidence or at least name the "key vitamins" I cannot believe in your opinion. What Health defects?

Do you realize how many healthy people are raised on a vegetarian diet all of their life?!

[mattfoley59]

Because of the dangers of a reductionist point of view of nutrititon, i feel its likely that it is healthier to eat in the manner we evolved to eat instead of relying on dietary supplemants. That being said, one example is that Vitamin B12 can only be gotten from animal flesh or other animal products.

[11889music]

Vitamin B-12 can be stored in the human body for up to 3 decades before needing to replenish it's supply. So, I doubt it is crucial to get a daily supply. Also, vitamin B-12 can be absorbed from naturally growing plants. Due to our insanely strict sanitation policies and use of chemicals, the vitamin B-12 gets lost from the surface of the vegetables and fruits that we eat. Essentially, the dirt particles on plants contain the B-12 that herbivores get to survive.

[adorejunk]

yes but people who take over the counter meds for Gerd and reflex are risking being depleted of B-12. So its important to supplement.

[AxiomofDiscord]

Some can take a vegetarian life style they are not the majority of human beings. That is my opinion. I suffered at the hands of such a lifestyle and am gladly putting that part of my life behind me. Yet I have vegan friends that thrive, I just can not join them.

[squeakel]

That's just not true. The British Medical Association has found that vegetarians are 40% less likely to get cancer and heart disease than meat eaters.

I know several lifelong vegetarians and vegans. They go about it in a really informed way and they're very healthy.

[Shaolos]

Those meta studies are basically useless due to their scientifically very vague way of analyzing things.

By the vegetarian is not problematic.

You can easily gain most stuff through eggs and dairy.

Vegan is what is very problematic.

[notretsechkg]

Amazing that the vegetarians continue to provide solutions that line up perfectly with the UN globalists. "More Soy!! More Soy!!" they shout (unfermented soy is filled with harful isoflavones -- estrogen mimickers). Both the so-called "greens" and the globalist would love a landscape free of people. Let the robots harvest the soy beans while we ship all the people to human concentration camps...err, cities.

[squeakel]

The Okinawans eat quite a bit of soy (most eat it daily) and the have the highest number of centurions on earth. They don't eat the highly processed TVP that westerners eat, though.

[notretsechkg]

The urban model is the same as the industrial feedlot model. Instead of natural cycles, you have nothing but costly inputs (almost always subsidized by confiscatory governments) and harmful outputs (so-called "food" with a fatty acid balance resulting in epidemic chronic disease and expensive and harmful "wastes" -- manure, something that, in natural form, is a gift to the soil but that becomes a cost center in agribusiness and urban policy.)

[Q4Knowledge]

This form of agriculture needs to be used worldwide.  Poverty could be completely eradicated.

[Q4Knowledge]

I meant famine not poverty.

[TheRealAristocrates]

That is incredibly inspiring. I've thought much the same kind of thing in the past too, but never in that kind of detail. TEDTalks is my new religion (it even says so on Facebook!)

[okiedragonlady2]

So the seeds in my freezer are actually calling my name and making me keep growing them every spring. And I don't know how many times I have walked thru the greenhouse like Patton addressing the troops - telling them how great they look and somehow, I feel them smile at me. My rose taps on the window - it is trying to communicate? The kerr ctr in okla has the cow/chicken connection. Chicken tractor here. They raise bulls - leaner.

[LovelyLolaCola]

Brilliant! Cartesian dualism is really the lasting outgrowth of the Enlightenment, and the most misguided. But, the juxtaposition of subject and object, is NOT one that will be so easily remedied since the question "whose interests does it serve to promote archaic dualisms?" is answered in terms of profit. So long as we can point to dollar signs as the measuring sticks of success and "rightness", the propagation of Cartesianism will forge ahead. The indoctrinated masses guarantee it.

[Trash732]

this dude is crazed with the power he got from the success of the Omnivore's Delema.

He's now talking about "eating meat" as a right to be denied to humanity on NPR

[niceonetom]

this thought has occurred to me before, though not in relation to plants. the 'domestic' cat could just as easily claim to have domesticated humans as vice-versa. my cat has health insurance fgs.

[totallytaylor21]

We are more complex because of our minds, yes. but we are just another species on this planet..

The animals feed on others like we must, they die like us, the the world feeds off us all.

Just takes an open eye.

10 trillion what?

[x86op]

...some have more complex minds. :) Seriously though, more people need to look at things from alternate perspectives. Just because we "think", doesn't automatically make us good at it.

[Lionsroar89]

carnivore to cannibal ay?

[potzrebie]

well tatas, perhaps I should explain a wee somthin...it's called a 'joke'. Which serves to point out some vegetative characteristics of Pollen, er Pollan.

' ...nets'. And neither , it seems, does this fellow (Pollen, er Pollan).

[TatalVost]

Plants don't have neural nets.

[abram730]

neural nets? Like what is needed for the quick thinking and for coordinating the movement of 10 trillion cells?

lets frame this down to one cell. A protozoan can be sucked into an eye dropper and find it's way out.

Suck it in again and it can get out faster. No neurons there.

Is love an idea or a chemical idea? 

Is your first love, your first taste of a drug?

Is true love the same or perhaps it is more of a synchronous pattern that lasts after the drugs no longer make you high.

[potzrebie]

my name is Pollan (oh, that's cute) and I have been cleverly manipulated and outwitted by a...potato.

[stupidtreehugger]

great observational science, very poor origin science. symbiosis cannot be evidence of synthesis, but could be of design. Darwinism was always DEAD, certainly the moment DNA was discovered: only DNA makes protein, yet it is made of protein; where are all the also-ran amino acids, proteins and DNA-alikes as Darwinism demands? Where in nature? The best lab attempts produce only a couple of aminoids among mostly toxic patently non-external-body-building-AND­-reproducing tar.

[chronpurpleskunk88]

How did DNA kill darwinism? Are you saying that because protein synthesis by DNA is the only source of new DNA this is evidence of intelligent design??

Darwinism demands "DNA-alikes"? Darwinism demands that unfit individuals are naturally selected out of the breeding population. You know, your DNA is "alike" mine or a chimp or a crocodile.

[nerdyharry]

@chronpurpleskunk88 it is a fallacious notion that evolution is a matter of 'survival of the fittest'. it is plainly apparent that individuals sporting the most flexible behavior-patterns tend to out-survive and sometimes, to dominate the "fittest" in any given environment [especially as that environment evolves itself], and although such an outcome is counter-intuitive, examples are all around you.

darwin himself never used the phrase "survival of the fittest".

[TatalVost]

So tell me, what's the latest lab results for GOD?

Only GOD makes everything, yet the Bible clearly states that outside GOD there is nothing. GODism demands GOD-alikes. Where in nature?

[jorge1234]

hahahahahahahahahahahahahah

[abram730]

TatalVost:"So tell me, what's the latest lab results for GOD?"

They found the holy spirit. Science doesn't know that, as they don't tend to entertain such thoughts.

[TatalVost]

LOL. WHo is "they" and where did "they" find it?

[abram730]

Symbiosis became disrupted by HIV, resulting in dementia.  So in affect as it didn't cause problems before HIV there was not much in the way of human research.

Some interesting research is came out of the Czech Republic. It looks at how world culture is affected by that microbe.

A house of many mansions and each room a cell.

[TatalVost]

So HIV is the holy spirit? What's your point, man?

[abram730]

No, but science calls it a parasite. It was given the name Gondii.

[gunapie]

The swan glides on the glassy pond

The morning mist moves with angle's touch

The stone that touched the water's edge

Was but an idol fashioned by foolish hands

The morning song echoes across the banks

As though a mother's sigh with babe in arm

What spell was cast upon this time and space

[poshstyles]

every ted presentation is spectacular!!!

[earlylove]

Being a nature lover, vegetarian and an avid gardener, I can see permaculture as a necesary reality for the future of mankind. The harmony and balance would sure be welcomed. I look at monoculture as mundance and dangerous; ultimately suiting multinationals. Everyone should have the freedom to own a plot of land to garden. The world would be cleaner and more peaceful; and poverty would not exist!!

[ManBearPiglet]

Even though I hold the exact opposite beliefs, I agree with you. It is certainly a beneficial way to view the environment.

Not because it promotes some socialist agenda, or because it lowers the harm we do to the environment. It's because it will greatly increase the efficiency of harvesting our environment, and will lead to an all-round better human understanding of our world.

If the plants and animals are willing to be harvested or used (because they benefit), it will be much easier to do so.

[mrmckeifus]

my mind just

esploded

[mrmckeifus]

and as thats happening, i look at my dog, and realize he's manipulated me(by being adorable and loyal) into helping to spread his kind across the Earth.

Huh.

[TatalVost]

The "survival of the species" interpretation of evolution has been obsolete for a while.

Now we know it's all about the genes, and genes don't willingly do anything.

Saying X manipulates Y is just an interpretation.

[ManBearPiglet]

The species does what's best for its survival... though subconsciously and unknowingly.

To manipulate another species is merely to reach a compromise wherein both species benefit.

If it is harmful to neither, the relationship will continue. If it's not harmful, natural selection won't wipe it out.

[HotEntrepreneurTV]

This is a great concept!

[vinogoddess]

if you follow all of Michael Pollan's talk, we would all realize the importance of picking the right food to supplement our body...corn and its by-products are really interesting....

[XxmattitudexX]

Cannibis has done the best job at this what other plant gets treated so well ?

tended in exclusive indoor gardens under artificial lights on a mass scale.

[Gicior]

If we wanted to we could destroy all corn, but a lima bean cannot choose to not release the summoning chemichal. One major thing that seperates us from other species is that we have the capacity to understand our environment and control it in various ways. We also do not require generations of updates to our genes to survive in and traverse environments that we didn't evolve in, and would otherwise be lethal to us.

[ManBearPiglet]

No we need to update our technology instead. That's the route we took.

We think we're controlling everything, but it explains in the video that we don't control much more than the other species.

The only advantage we have is the ability to understand it all.

[abram730]

There were and still are things that could get the Lima bean to stop producing that chemical. How is it we modify the genetics of plants now?

one need not be run in terror from the spaghetti monster, as we can't live without them. I'd add that those that rise to the top often have help from the gut instincts that live in their brain;)

PS: by count you are 10 trillion human cells and 100 trillion microbes. Would you consider yourself only 10% human?

[TatalVost]

Our 10 trillion run the show. The others are just pets.

[spankyquest]

very intriguing video, it actually gave me a boner.

[lordmetroid]

This as he says in the beginning is nothing new.

[bigeeezy]

Fantastic

[Blackliam]

"Animals are something invented by plants to move seeds around. An extremely yang solution to a peculiar problem which they faced." - Terrence McKenna

[CheezMonsterCrazy]

This is the first time I've found farming to be truly interesting.

[CheeezMaster]

How novel. I love it.

[Rantandreason]

The Nash equilibrium in all it's glory.

[marjan15]

I liked first 7 minutes a lot.