Fruits and vegetables are less nutritious than they used to be • Hacker News Board

Re: Fruits and vegetables are less nutritious than they used to be

#171

Post by somenameforme » Tue, May 03, 2022, 4:49 PM UTC

jjoonathan wrote: post #170

somenameforme wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine you were tasked with deciding the greatest film of all time. And after some opaque process over which you have no meaningful influence, you were presented with your choices, the "sides:" "Generic Superhero Movie #1" or "Generic Superhero Movie #2". Of course you are right that one may be objectively better than the other, but I'm also right in that such a choice ought be rejected on principle because neither…

...and then audiences stop reading your opinion, because snobbery isn't useful for picking which movie to see on Friday night, and then producers and directors stop paying attention to you because you have no audience, and now you have traded away your ability to effect change for the self-indulgent fantasy of being above the fray. > neither deserves the validation Huffing your own farts is poor debate strategy.

Look to the media. They sold any and all principles they once held in pursuit of "effecting change". And what happened? Everybody knows everything they say is worthless, they're further than ever from affecting, let alone effecting, anything and now they struggle, with no small degree of contempt and jealousy, to attract the viewership of a mid-tier YouTuber.

And this tale of modern media is not some new one. History and humanity endlessly repeats the same stories over and over, with little more than technological improvement offering a change in scenery. This is where the countless parables analogous to selling your soul to the devil come from: observing humanity. The moral being that it doesn't end quite like how you might have imagined.

Re: Fruits and vegetables are less nutritious than they used to be

#172

Post by hansel_der » Tue, May 03, 2022, 5:32 PM UTC

fsflover wrote: post #155

hansel_der wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

your overly generous assumption about the safety risk aside, imagine a genetic modification and subsequent introduction of that modified organism into the ecosphere like a big leap of faith. genetic mutation occuring in nature is of smaller scale (a few differences, a few individuals) and not subject to contradicting incentives that politics and markets are prone to.

> your overly generous assumption about the safety risk This is not my assumption, this is scientific consensus, see the linked page. > subsequent introduction of that modified organism into the ecosphere This is not how the ecosphere works. The new mutation will only survive if it provides some benefits for the survival. If more nutritious fruits are like this, I see no problem here at all.

>> your overly generous assumption about the safety risk

>This is not my assumption, this is scientific consensus, see the linked page.

i very much doubt that:

  * it could be proven (that gmo's WILL NOT harmfully interact with other organisms)
  * there is (something aproaching) consensus on that topic
  * wikipedia is a credible source for it

thou i share the view that gmo have massively enhanced our abilities, i also think that the risk is of the same magnitude.

Re: Fruits and vegetables are less nutritious than they used to be

#173

Post by fsflover » Wed, May 04, 2022, 9:27 AM UTC

hansel_der wrote: post #172

fsflover wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> your overly generous assumption about the safety risk This is not my assumption, this is scientific consensus, see the linked page. > subsequent introduction of that modified organism into the ecosphere This is not how the ecosphere works. The new mutation will only survive if it provides some benefits for the survival. If more nutritious fruits are like this, I see no problem here at all.

>> your overly generous assumption about the safety risk >This is not my assumption, this is scientific consensus, see the linked page. i very much doubt that: * it could be proven (that gmo's WILL NOT harmfully interact with other organisms) * there is (something aproaching) consensus on that topic * wikipedia is a credible source for it thou i share the view that gmo have massively enhanced our abilities, i also th…

> wikipedia is a credible source for it

Wikipedia is not a source. It's a list of sources. And those sources are actually very good, check yourself.