Synthetic biology is coming; open your mouth

[maradydd]

It is pretty important to read this Atlantic piece on synthetic biology in light of the research of Ester Boserup. (The Conditions of Agricultural Growth is not all that long and the clarity of her writing is up there with Bertrand Russell.)

When cultivable land is "squeezed," as the Atlantic puts it, that is a constraint on agricultural

Comments

Broken (and keepable) promises

[ext_2791993]

Here's the thing about technological advances. They don't have to be

Re: Broken (and keepable) promises

[maradydd]

I think you miss my point, David. The tiny sliver of people who profit from the industrial food system started ramping up the basic engineering research necessary to scale up today's astonishing discoveries in, oh, the 1950s-1970s. They have cast their dice; that ship sailed before I was born.

Ensuring that the foodscapes of the future do have a radically different profile, which I am increasingly convinced will have to require much less in the way of hub-and-spoke topology if they are to arrest the damage centralisation has already done, is going to require cooperation between biohackers and farmers just to keep Big Agriculture from calling every shot in the game.

[whswhs]

I'm afraid the article is proving unreadable; trying to scroll down just freezes my browser screen

[whswhs]

OK, now I've been able to read the article. But I don't see a definition of "hub-and-spoke" model there in the context of agriculture. I'm not sure what you mean by the phrase. Clarify?