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Killing sparrows led to famines in China

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Re: Killing sparrows led to famines in China

#11

Post by scythe »

abudabi123 wrote: post #8

How does the targetting of the sparrow species for annihilation in China compare to the post-Columbus ongoing deforestation in the Americas's? Xi does have the ecological health of the environment on his policy priority list which is a change from previous leadership driven by slavery to economic devop. There are documentaries on little birds by the sea. They have their place.

Practically no other event in human history comes close to the ecological and cultural destructive impact of the early colonial period in the Americas. But because of that, it should not be used as a yardstick for anything else. "It's not the worst thing ever" is a poor defense of anything.

Re: Killing sparrows led to famines in China

#12

Post by nradov »

kevviiinn wrote: post #6

I find it rather strange that people tend to blame the famine on communism and central planning

Central planning usually causes shortages of everything including food. Famines are a routine occurrence under communism.

https://victimsofcommunism.org/curriculum-chapter-2/

Re: Killing sparrows led to famines in China

#14

Post by goda90 »

bluSCALE4 wrote: post #7

This is why I was concerned when I heard Google, of all companies, released lab grown mosquitos to wipe them out. I'm curious what happened with this effort. It's not exactly a vote of confidence when the other guy trying to do this is Bill Gates.

Generally those efforts are targeted at disease carrying mosquitoes. There are other species of mosquitoes in the same regions and there aren't any animals that only eat one kind of mosquito.

Re: Killing sparrows led to famines in China

#15

Post by andrewflnr »

scythe wrote: post #11
abudabi123 wrote: post #8

How does the targetting of the sparrow species for annihilation in China compare to the post-Columbus ongoing deforestation in the Americas's? Xi does have the ecological health of the environment on his policy priority list which is a change from previous leadership driven by slavery to economic devop. There are documentaries on little birds by the sea. They have their place.

Practically no other event in human history comes close to the ecological and cultural destructive impact of the early colonial period in the Americas. But because of that, it should not be used as a yardstick for anything else. "It's not the worst thing ever" is a poor defense of anything.

On a similar note, there's a danger of comparing "the early colonial period in the Americas", a 300-400 year period containing many distinguishable catastrophes, to anything not of equal scale. It's kind of like comparing an apple and a whole apple tree.

Re: Killing sparrows led to famines in China

#18

Post by lostlogin »

bluSCALE4 wrote: post #7

This is why I was concerned when I heard Google, of all companies, released lab grown mosquitos to wipe them out. I'm curious what happened with this effort. It's not exactly a vote of confidence when the other guy trying to do this is Bill Gates.

The Gates’ have a pretty spectacular track record, what do you mean?

Re: Killing sparrows led to famines in China

#19

Post by neovialogistics »

Someone once commented to me that rather than blaming Mao personally, the blame for the negative consequences of The Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution should be placed on the systemic forces that legitimised the absence of domain experts in policy making.

It's a nice sentiment but I have a gut feeling that these kinds of frameworks - where blame is taken away from people and attributed to abstract concepts - lead to worse outcomes long-term. Is that gut feeling just my evolutionary instincts talking or is it a sign of something useful?

Re: Killing sparrows led to famines in China

#20

Post by zabzonk »

bluSCALE4 wrote: post #7

This is why I was concerned when I heard Google, of all companies, released lab grown mosquitos to wipe them out. I'm curious what happened with this effort. It's not exactly a vote of confidence when the other guy trying to do this is Bill Gates.

> It's not exactly a vote of confidence when the other guy trying to do this is Bill Gates

yeah, a super-villain trying to wipe out malaria - what is his cunning plan?

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