[TheForge] eco coke OT

[Andrew Vida]

peter fels wrote:
> On May 25, 2011, at 5:17 PM, Andrew Vida wrote:
> 
>>
>> peter fels wrote:
>>> Seems the "biochar" has other soil virtues, including fighting
>>> compaction, holding water for  an extended time for plant roots and
>>> sequestering some nutrients for later use....It also endures a heck
>>> of a long time. Buried wood gets broken down and returns to the
>>> carbon cycle pretty promptly, given moisture.
>> These may be virtues... or liabilities.
> How so?

Unforeseen results arising from meddling in highly complex, non-linear 
systems.  Balances in such worlds are interesting in that they always 
exist, but not all balances are desirable to us. We can massively 
irradiate the planet, for instance, and a new overall equilibrium will 
be established, but that new state may not be very conducive to happy 
human life.

Consider antibiotics.  Development of resistance was not anticipated. 
Now we have resistant bugs.  These sorts of reestablishment of 
equilibrium frequently results in unforeseen and often undesirable outcomes.


>> For instance, some believe that 
>> GMO foods are harmless, and they may be correct.  Maybe not.
> 
> They are sure to be a mixed bag, of course. My guess is that without them,
>  we will suffer a huge population collapse ( even huger?)  in the near future.

	That may be, but the population expanded to these levels based on what 
may in the end prove to be a strong ponzi analog. If so, things will 
have to adjust eventually.  Not a pretty prospect, but we may not be 
given a choice.  Ideals are all well and good, but if they are not 
sound, they are not sound.

>>  I am wary 
>> of treating the world like a giant petri dish.
> 
> The world IS a giant petri dish with rampant genetic recombination experiments, never ceasing.
> We are a product of that process.

	Agreed, but some experiments produce highly undesirable results.
> 
>>  Experimentation is in 
>> our blood, I suppose, but it seems there are probably some boundaries. 
>> The problem is knowing where they lie.
> 
> It is a problem , and you can be sure common sense will be violated, repeatedly.
> For better or worse, anything we can think up, has probably been done by nature, 
> a great many times.

	Maybe.  I have not been around long enough to be able to say.