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Building Better Bananas (2012)

gatesnotes.com

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Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)

#11

Post by bmj »

tfinniga wrote: post #8
bildung wrote: post #3

I was under the impression that hunger is primarily a distribution issue, not an issue of production. Gates implicitly states that the vitamin A deficit is mainly a result of a one-sided diet. But isn't the one-sided diet itself a result of a lack of alternatives? So, if alternatives cannot currently be distributed to meet demand, how would a new breed of bananas solve that? Don't they also have to get distributed in…

I think "distribution" in this context is just a nice way of saying that poor people can't afford better food from elsewhere, they have to rely on what is cheap and can be bought from the local market. If they're already buying bananas as a staple food, then I presume that the fix would be for the government to go to the local growers and either give the better banana plants for free, or at a discounted rate, or some…

I think "distribution" in this context is just a nice way of saying that poor people can't afford better food from elsewhere, they have to rely on what is cheap and can be bought from the local market.

Depends on location, I think. In the United States, yeah, that might be the case, but in other countries (I'm thinking parts of Africa), it is a distribution issue, particularly when dealing with corrupt governments.

Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)

#12

Post by ataggart »

Considering the opposition to golden rice (sometimes violently [1]) to fulfill this role in other parts of the world, these bananas are probably DOA. So long as middle-class Westerners imagine someone somewhere might end up making a profit, they will prefer children in developing countries starve and go blind [2].

[1] http://news.sciencemag.org/asiapacific/2013/08/activists-des...

[2] http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2014/03/15/go...

Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)

#13

Post by swalsh »

bildung wrote: post #3

I was under the impression that hunger is primarily a distribution issue, not an issue of production. Gates implicitly states that the vitamin A deficit is mainly a result of a one-sided diet. But isn't the one-sided diet itself a result of a lack of alternatives? So, if alternatives cannot currently be distributed to meet demand, how would a new breed of bananas solve that? Don't they also have to get distributed in…

There's a lot of people working on the "distribution" issue. There's no reason not to attack the problem from another angle. This is one of the things that makes Gate's foundation so great. He's bringing a pretty radical new perspective to charity. An approach of "Get the most good for his buck".

Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)

#14

Post by bildung »

tfinniga wrote: post #8
bildung wrote: post #3

I was under the impression that hunger is primarily a distribution issue, not an issue of production. Gates implicitly states that the vitamin A deficit is mainly a result of a one-sided diet. But isn't the one-sided diet itself a result of a lack of alternatives? So, if alternatives cannot currently be distributed to meet demand, how would a new breed of bananas solve that? Don't they also have to get distributed in…

I think "distribution" in this context is just a nice way of saying that poor people can't afford better food from elsewhere, they have to rely on what is cheap and can be bought from the local market. If they're already buying bananas as a staple food, then I presume that the fix would be for the government to go to the local growers and either give the better banana plants for free, or at a discounted rate, or some…

> I think "distribution" in this context is just a nice way of saying that poor people can't afford better food from elsewhere, they have to rely on what is cheap and can be bought from the local market.

That may very well be the case.

> If they're already buying bananas as a staple food, then I presume that the fix would be for the government to go to the local growers and either give the better banana plants for free, or at a discounted rate, or some other incentive. If that's what the growers grow, then that is what will eventually be available at the market.

I think that exactly is the distribution problem again: If the government has the means to do that, why is it not providing seeds/saplings etc. of vitamin A containing crops right now? Bananas are a really demanding crop, so the soil has to be of high quality.

Most probably the article just left this information out for the sake of readability, but given the current information my fear is that these GMO bananas are a solution for a problem complex that has not been researched deeply enough to have a firm understanding of the causes. Like a startup running with the mantra 'build it and they will come' :)

Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)

#15

Post by judk »

ataggart wrote: post #12

Considering the opposition to golden rice (sometimes violently [1]) to fulfill this role in other parts of the world, these bananas are probably DOA. So long as middle-class Westerners imagine someone somewhere might end up making a profit, they will prefer children in developing countries starve and go blind [2]. [1] http://news.sciencemag.org/asiapacific/2013/08/activists-des... [2] http://blogs.scientificamerican.…

Good job citing speculation about a third-party's motives and justification for your speculation. A+ for specious citation.

Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)

#16

Post by dlsx »

And here I was living in eternal ignorance thinking bananas are fine as-is.

Sort of like how I like my meat not grown from soy-protein, or my water without aspartame (gates favorite sweetener.)

All of these Gates notes agenda pushing for Monsanto is reason number 1 why I buy mac and shop at whole foods.

Bill Gates IS literally Satan incarnate. How can you all be so blinded by this psusdo-science bullshit?

Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)

#17

Post by judk »

gus_massa wrote: post #2

> Making banana plants less susceptible to diseases is a secondary goal for us. Our primary goal is to help Dale develop new types of banana that are more nutritious – specifically, much richer in Vitamin A and Iron that the body can absorb. I don’t like some details. The banana needs a little more energy to produce more Vitamin A, so the plant will yield fewer bananas and these bananas will be more expensive. You wi…

Based on pricing across the world, banana appears to be the cheapest fruit in the world, by far. Are people starving due to low banana yield?

Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)

#18

Post by dlsx »

judk wrote: post #15
ataggart wrote: post #12

Considering the opposition to golden rice (sometimes violently [1]) to fulfill this role in other parts of the world, these bananas are probably DOA. So long as middle-class Westerners imagine someone somewhere might end up making a profit, they will prefer children in developing countries starve and go blind [2]. [1] http://news.sciencemag.org/asiapacific/2013/08/activists-des... [2] http://blogs.scientificamerican.…

Good job citing speculation about a third-party's motives and justification for your speculation. A+ for specious citation.

Good job blindly supporting Gates notes as if they are not paid for by MONSANTO.

Fuck these paid for profit "notes" on how to euthanize the population as quickly as possible.

Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)

#19

Post by judk »

bildung wrote: post #14
tfinniga wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think "distribution" in this context is just a nice way of saying that poor people can't afford better food from elsewhere, they have to rely on what is cheap and can be bought from the local market. If they're already buying bananas as a staple food, then I presume that the fix would be for the government to go to the local growers and either give the better banana plants for free, or at a discounted rate, or some…

> I think "distribution" in this context is just a nice way of saying that poor people can't afford better food from elsewhere, they have to rely on what is cheap and can be bought from the local market. That may very well be the case. > If they're already buying bananas as a staple food, then I presume that the fix would be for the government to go to the local growers and either give the better banana plants for fr…

Maybe next time the Gates Foundation and its hundreds of resesrchers will consult you before wasting time on its billion-dollar "unresearched" programs.

Re: Building Better Bananas (2012)

#20

Post by rmc »

bildung wrote: post #3

I was under the impression that hunger is primarily a distribution issue, not an issue of production. Gates implicitly states that the vitamin A deficit is mainly a result of a one-sided diet. But isn't the one-sided diet itself a result of a lack of alternatives? So, if alternatives cannot currently be distributed to meet demand, how would a new breed of bananas solve that? Don't they also have to get distributed in…

> I was under the impression that hunger is primarily a distribution issue, not an issue of production.

What do you think the solution to distribution is? World-wide socialism, where all property is distributed based on need?

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