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["Alan MacHett" <machett AT ibiblio.org>]

[just now getting to mail; sorry for the late insert...]

In reference to Jeremy Portzer's message:
> Good point.  And modern, 'artificial' genetic modification is much more
> exact than traditional selective breeding/hybridization.  Scientists can
> now change just one gene at a time (e.g. the roundup resistance gene)
> without having to get thousands of others in the process.  Yet somehow
> people are much more worried about unseen "health risks" from this,
> instead of the traditional methods where THOUSANDS of unknown genes were
> changed.  This is the part that confuses me.
>

Because, as much as Mother Nature and I no longer get along, I still have
infinitely more faith in Her randomness than in any human's attempt at
playing Mother Nature.  They're not really in it for the betterment of the
planet.

Yes, I have absolute faith in the (future) ability of genetic engineering.
 I look forward to Gattica.  Well, almost.  I look forward to improving
the species.  That which was bleak and wrong in Gattica was the dilution
of diversity.  That which is wrong in GMO, be it in a lab overnight or on
a farm over a hundred years, is the elimination of diversity and the
imbalance of ecosystems.  Ask just about any Anthropologist today and she
will lament the Agricultural Revolution of 9-10K years ago.  We eat far
fewer types of food today than our ancestors.  We live off corporate
farming.  Deciduous forests have been replaced with faster growing pine. 
Bamboo grows all over Chapel Hill.  Fat little toads from Australia are
overtaking the Midwest.

The ill-guided hand of Man is rampant upon the planet and I for one simply
don't fucking trust us.

-Alan