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Ethical to breed animals for its only purpose to be eaten?

Kirran

Premium Member
I'm not disagreeing that GMO's can be good, but have you ever had a look at Monsanto? The image beside "evil corporation" in a encyclopaedia would be theirs. :fearscream:

I'm not saying ALL GMO's use more pesticides, I talked about the particular bad cases involving bad corporations. Re-read my post. :sweatsmile:

No arguments here. Monsanto ain't so good.

And yeah, I'm against the excessive use of pesticides too. But this isn't just a GMO issue.

I realy dont want to offend you , and I have not yet asked what you are currently studying , ....may turn out to be agriculture , ...

I am studying Biotechnology, which includes the genetic modification of plants.

please remember there is no intent to offend , and I am giving you my veiw only , ....but I am not the only one who thinks like this , ....there are millions of us , ....

Ratikala, I honestly find it hard to believe you could ever offend me :) I hope I do not offend you either, I do not intend to.

We are told that GM is safe by whom , the same people who stand to make inordinate ammounts of monney from it ,

Well this isn't strictly true. There've been absolutely huge amounts of studies by impartial scientific organisations. I personally know people involved in this area of research, and there are many, many people who do not have vested interests who are supporters and advocates of GM crops.

...we are fed this lie that this technology will improve the lives of the poorer nations , the third world countries , ...

I don't feel it is a lie.

Every year, about 670,000 children under the age of five die because of beta-carotene deficiencies. Years ago, a variety of rice was developed which produced much higher than normal levels of beta carotene than normally. It could grow in normal conditions, it was just rice, but with added beta-carotene. Releasing this product, which has gone through many trials, including human feeding trials, and been proven safe, would save many many lives, and alleviate suffering for many families. But it hasn't been released because people don't get that GM isn't some evil conspiracy. So children keep dying.

if so , ...then Why have they developed plants with sterile seed , ....this is not enabling food security , ...?

I think you're believing too much hype. These have been developed, yes. But all further research on it has stopped, and it has been blocked from commercial release due to resistance from farmers, governments, NGOs, etc. Quite rightly. I also agree that this is a bad idea. So that's sorted, and will not be a danger, because it is widely banned and research is discontinued.

and Why are there moves afoot to illigalise the saving of seed ???

Do you know that for over two years this argumant has been going on the EU wants to ban the use of any seed not registered with the presiding Government , ...???
and if the large Agri Businesses had their way and this law actualy gets pased I will be a criminal , ....
Heritige vegetable seed varieties will be illegal unless regestered with the government , and I most certainly would be commiting a criminal act saving and cultivating wild flowers , dye plants and medicinal herbs (which have been used for centuries ), unless I have them tested and registered , ...of course any small grower canot afford this kind of testing , if passed this law would put a lot of small growers out of business or force then to grow only the varieties sold by the industrial producers , ....

this is not about feeding the world that unfortunatly is just their big spin , ....it is about money and control.

I'm with you, I disagree strongly with this idea.

But it's not an issue with GM. It's an issue with farming regulations.

I love you for being so sweet and so trusting , ...but there is more to all this than meets the eye , ...

Certainly, there is :)

yes , and why is this ? ...to make it difficult for the small producers , ....and eventualy squeeze them out or standardise them , ....if the EU has its way your father will have to buy seed from the big suppliers he wont have the oppertunity to choose a variety which suits his soil or his customers he will get the standard seed and the standard soil conditioners (chemicals) to go with it , ...

'The EU' being particular policy-makers in particular organs of the government of the EU, here?

I can't see it ever being pushed to that kind of extent. There's too much resistance.

and if America gets its way and forces us into accepting trade agreements , they can come here and grow what they like and produce food to their (lower) standards and if we try to stop them they will take us to court for restrictive practices , ...
this is all about money , ...why on earth would America need to come here to grow food if it wasnt for financial reasons?
Do you know about the company whos name I probably cant mention , ..., ...(American owned) who opperate here , one of their recent ploys is the setting up of abslolutely massive industrial chicken units , ...and for what market , ...fast food and junk food markets ? and export ! ...yet for our own use we import loads of chickens from Asia ??? ...why ? because these chickens are fed disgusting growth promoters to fatten them up as quikly as possible , ..and we dont fancy them .
unnatural_growth.jpg


this is a product of and I quote , ....''Genetic breeding, growth hormones and high growth feed leads to the modern broiler hen growing abnormally fast and reaching slaughter age in just 6-7 weeks ...''Chicken: Cruelty and abuse of poultry and egg laying chicken in factory farms | ourfoodprint.com

if they can do this to chickens to make money they will do it to vegetables too , ...this world is sick it is driven by desire for profit and the best way to make profit is to knock out or controll the competition ,...please please do not be taken in read both sides of the story .

the nameless company claim this , ...'' ***** provides food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services to the world. Together with farmers, customers, governments and communities, we help people thrive by applying our insights and 150 years of experience. We have 152,000 employees in 67 countries who are committed to feeding the world in a responsible way, reducing environmental impact and improving the communities where we live and work''

but they do this ...

chicken-broiler-03.jpg


one of their slogans is ''sustainability is the new Norm''

winkler_073099twp.jpg


Oh look there is some one'' composting '' ? the ones that didnt make it ???


weve got to think this one out again , and we have to stop beliving the spin !!!​


Yes, I agree entirely, this is absurd. I am against factory farming, very much so. No arguments there.

P.S. congratulations to your fammily for having Principles and sticking to them how ever hard it may be .

Thanks. Although, actually, my dad has left the Soil Association, because the regulations were getting too weird.

I think the farm's probably more eco-friendly now that it's not officially organic.

There are rules like, you're not allowed to trim your hedges and leave the waste on the ground, and stuff like this.

Om Shanti ratikala ji
 

ratikala

Istha gosthi
namaskaram Kirran ji

No arguments here. Monsanto ain't so good.

And yeah, I'm against the excessive use of pesticides too. But this isn't just a GMO issue.

but we all have to admit that it does become a problem especialy with large mono crops

I am studying Biotechnology, which includes the genetic modification of plants.

OK , now I understand where you are coming from ,,,,

Ratikala, I honestly find it hard to believe you could ever offend me :) I hope I do not offend you either, I do not intend to.

no , no , not at all , this is too important an issue for people to start taking things personaly



Well this isn't strictly true. There've been absolutely huge amounts of studies by impartial scientific organisations. I personally know people involved in this area of research, and there are many, many people who do not have vested interests who are supporters and advocates of GM crops.

sure there are some unbiased and well intentioned researchers working in these aresa , however the long term implications of the changes in the structures of foods may take many years to be fully understood , you can increase the Beta carotine in a food but in doing so other constituents of the food will also be changed , the human body is a complex organism it canot nececarily just adjust to dramatic changes in the constituents of foods , and without the exact ballance of other minerals and vitimins in a food this may render an increase in Beta carotine to be hazardous to the body if the corect constituents needed for the body to assimilate it are not there in the ballance which the body is accustomed to .



I don't feel it is a lie.

Ok , lets put it very politely , there is every possibility that you are hearing only one side of the story , ....

Every year, about 670,000 children under the age of five die because of beta-carotene deficiencies. Years ago, a variety of rice was developed which produced much higher than normal levels of beta carotene than normally. It could grow in normal conditions, it was just rice, but with added beta-carotene. Releasing this product, which has gone through many trials, including human feeding trials, and been proven safe, would save many many lives, and alleviate suffering for many families. But it hasn't been released because people don't get that GM isn't some evil conspiracy. So children keep dying.

did you know that the orange fleshed sweet potato is allmost twice as high in beta carotene as the the carot it is cheep and easy to grow in Africa and India , as are mangos , papaya and all orange fruits , which are in plentifull suply as they fall of trees all over India , .....and a varied diet gives other nececary vitmins and minnerals .
one of the biggest problems is that in many poor areas of India these fruits are collected for sale rather than eaten localy , ....
and did you know that even with sufficient vitimin A in their diets thousands of these children will still die due to worm infestation which is a huge problem due to insanitary living conditions , with worms in their gut no amount of nutritional advancement will help them ,



I think you're believing too much hype. These have been developed, yes. But all further research on it has stopped, and it has been blocked from commercial release due to resistance from farmers, governments, NGOs, etc. Quite rightly. I also agree that this is a bad idea. So that's sorted, and will not be a danger, because it is widely banned and research is discontinued.

but whos idiot Idea was it ? .....it just shows that there are some pretty dumb experiments going on , ...



I'm with you, I disagree strongly with this idea.

But it's not an issue with GM. It's an issue with farming regulations.

the subject if this thread was imoral practices , I just brought up another which we should watch out for , ....:p


Certainly, there is :)



'The EU' being particular policy-makers in particular organs of the government of the EU, here?

I can't see it ever being pushed to that kind of extent. There's too much resistance.

thank God there is resistance or it would be law by now ! ...but why should we have to protest about everything where is the integrity in these people , if they outlaw seed saving , then what next ?

they did these kind of things in the 70s , ..to keep the french happy we grubbed up acre upon acre of orchards especialy in Kent because they wanted to standardise Apples , ....and inforce that we all ate French Golden Delicious :mad::mad::mad:, ....and we lost many varieties of apple and pear that had been grown in this country for hundreds of years , ...Bio diversity is healthy if a desease hits one variety another may remain resistant , this is the old ''dont put all eggs in one basket '' kind of tried and tested logic , ....

thus I will not shop in supermarkets and I will not buy forign apples !!!

Yes, I agree entirely, this is absurd. I am against factory farming, very much so. No arguments there.

that is Good we are agreed on somethings then , .... ;)

Thanks. Although, actually, my dad has left the Soil Association, because the regulations were getting too weird.

I think the farm's probably more eco-friendly now that it's not officially organic.

There are rules like, you're not allowed to trim your hedges and leave the waste on the ground, and stuff like this.
I would far prefer to leave it to the integrity of the farmer , ....that is as it should be , ....

Om Shanti ratikala ji

Jai Jai , Om Shanti Shanti Shanti , ....

P.S. have you read Vandana Shiva ?

if not you must , ....but please read with an open mind and tell me what you think ?
 
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Kirran

Premium Member
namaskaram Kirran ji

but we all have to admit that it does become a problem especialy with large mono crops

Namaskaram ratikala

Yes, I agree, the practice of monoculture is inadvisable.

OK , now I understand where you are coming from ,,,,

Do you, indeed? :p

sure there are some unbiased and well intentioned researchers working in these aresa , however the long term implications of the changes in the structures of foods may take many years to be fully understood , you can increase the Beta carotine in a food but in doing so other constituents of the food will also be changed , the human body is a complex organism it canot nececarily just adjust to dramatic changes in the constituents of foods , and without the exact ballance of other minerals and vitimins in a food this may render an increase in Beta carotine to be hazardous to the body if the corect constituents needed for the body to assimilate it are not there in the ballance which the body is accustomed to .

Actually, the wonderful thing is, we do have a way to measure the effects that a particular change has on plants in total - how all of the constituents are changed.

This is the field of metabolomics - through this we aim to quantify and measure all different substances present within a life form. Using metabolomics based methods, it has been shown that actually genetic modification of a crop so as to upregulate a particular gene or to introduce a new substance has very little effect on the plant's other constituents. In fact, the differences resulting from this one change, outside the specific change made, are less than the differences already found between different strains of the same crop which are already naturally in cultivation.

The reason that beta carotene is being increased is because so many people don't get as much as the body needs for healthy functioning.

What's more, I'd like to address this image of so much GM research being done by massive corporations. Yes, a good deal is. But there is also a massive amount of research, as well as huge amounts of regulation, of checking, of verifying, of safety checks, being carried out by people working in non-profit organisations, charities, government bodies, universities...

And another point: the world population is growing. We only have so much land. Already much of the world isn't fed enough. So we have just got to increase yields per hectare, unless we want to let hundreds of millions of people, or more, starve. GM is a vital technology to enable this.

Ok , lets put it very politely , there is every possibility that you are hearing only one side of the story , ....

Likewise, no? To be honest, I think I've got a decent understanding of the arguments of the anti-GM lobby. But they don't hold water for me, is all.

did you know that the orange fleshed sweet potato is allmost twice as high in beta carotene as the the carot it is cheep and easy to grow in Africa and India , as are mangos , papaya and all orange fruits , which are in plentifull suply as they fall of trees all over India , .....and a varied diet gives other nececary vitmins and minnerals .
one of the biggest problems is that in many poor areas of India these fruits are collected for sale rather than eaten localy , ....

Yes, of course, in a perfect world (of course, the world is already perfect in that it is a manifestation of the Divine, but I think you know what I mean) everybody would be able to have a full and balanced diet with lots of vegetables, grains, legumes, etc. Then we wouldn't need GM, because everyone would be properly fed anyway. Hopefully, one day we will achieve this. But in the meantime, we've got to work with the situation we've got in the world.

and did you know that even with sufficient vitimin A in their diets thousands of these children will still die due to worm infestation which is a huge problem due to insanitary living conditions , with worms in their gut no amount of nutritional advancement will help them ,

This is bad. No arguments there. But it is nevertheless a fact that improving nutrition would help billions of people, although it of course would not eliminate problems like this, which also need to be combated.

but whos idiot Idea was it ? .....it just shows that there are some pretty dumb experiments going on , ...

Now now. Some of the reasoning behind the development of this technology, which I would like to remind you I am against the implementation of, was that it would ensure containment of transgenic DNA (i.e. the crops couldn't cross with wild relatives, because their seeds are infertile - turns out this isn't much of an issue anyway), that it would make crop rotation more efficient by reducing volunteer plants from leftover seed in the ground and that it would prevent spoilage of seed due to sprouting.

If we don't do experiments, we can't advance.

the subject if this thread was imoral practices , I just brought up another which we should watch out for , ....:p

Fair enough :)

thank God there is resistance or it would be law by now ! ...but why should we have to protest about everything where is the integrity in these people , if they outlaw seed saving , then what next ?

I can't imagine they will.

they did these kind of things in the 70s , ..to keep the french happy we grubbed up acre upon acre of orchards especialy in Kent because they wanted to standardise Apples , ....and inforce that we all ate French Golden Delicious :mad::mad::mad:, ....and we lost many varieties of apple and pear that had been grown in this country for hundreds of years , ...Bio diversity is healthy if a desease hits one variety another may remain resistant , this is the old ''dont put all eggs in one basket '' kind of tried and tested logic , ....

thus I will not shop in supermarkets and I will not buy forign apples !!!

Very laudable. Again, monoculture isn't so great.

With some crops, such as maize, it's only really through GM that we'll be able to introduce genetic diversity.

that is Good we are agreed on somethings then , .... ;)

:)

I would far prefer to leave it to the integrity of the farmer , ....that is as it should be , ....

Here's where I have to say I love you for your trusting nature :)

Leaving things to the integrity of the farmer is asking for trouble - so many just don't care that much about the environment, or will be a bit lazy, or won't understand many issues involved in farming, and how they impact the world. We have laws and regulations for a reason.
P.S. have you read Vandana Shiva ?

if not you must , ....but please read with an open mind and tell me what you think ?

I hadn't heard of her, but I went to her Wikipedia page and saw her basic stances about things and her arguments.

On many things, I agree with her. I agree with her on her feminist advocacy, very strongly. This is very important. I agree with her that the long-term patenting of plants is bad. Especially naturally-occurring plants.

I disagree with her on her opposition to Golden Rice - she says that greens eaten in Bengal could have the same effect r.e. Vitamin A deficiencies. Yes, they could. But so many people just don't have access to this, and the fastest, most efficient way to get these people Vitamin A is via Golden Rice, as they are already growing rice and it wouldn't require an overhaul of infrastructure and a reshaping of the economy. I also disagree with her having protested food aid coming from the USA, because it contained GM-derived vegetables.

What I'd really like you to understand is that GM is just a technology. No more. It's just a simple way by which we can introduce new traits into plants (or other organisms), or modify existing traits. Please don't blame GM for the problems which already exist in this intensive farming industry regardless of it.

Did you know that insulin, for people with diabetes, is produced from genetically modified bacteria?

Om
 

Mycroft

Ministry of Serendipity
I think in the future we can just bypass the breeding part and print meat 3d without killing any animals at all.
 

Monk Of Reason

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
Anyone see Modest Mouse's music video for float on? it made me realize how barbaric it was. im gradually getting off eating meat. I find it hypocritical that we love animals and all, yet we eat them.

is it right? I would appriciate your thoughts!
Would it be any less or more ethical to breed them for another purpose?
 

dantech

Well-Known Member
What other great purpose could this veal I'm eating have? You think it was meant for greatness? Perhaps it would have cured cancer?

I'm not the biggest fan of vegetarian proselytes.
 

ratikala

Istha gosthi
namaskaram kirran ji

Namaskaram ratikala

Yes, I agree, the practice of monoculture is inadvisable.

that is good :)

a lot of points I wont labour on save to say that I am realy sceptical as to whether we should be playing god in this way , yes there is some good in modification , but I dont trust the large corporations to usit in a totaly compassionate manner , , I am affraid where money is involved the good intentions get hijacked somewhere along the lines , ....nor should we rule out the possibilities of unforseen circumstances , .....

life it self is a very delicate ballance even , if by trying to benifit mankind we accidentaly upset that fragile ballance we could prehaps caused more dammage that we can now immagine , ....

if we realy want to feed the world there are other ways to do it , but it would rely upon us taking more responcibility our selves , ......

Yes, of course, in a perfect world (of course, the world is already perfect in that it is a manifestation of the Divine, but I think you know what I mean) everybody would be able to have a full and balanced diet with lots of vegetables, grains, legumes, etc. Then we wouldn't need GM, because everyone would be properly fed anyway. Hopefully, one day we will achieve this. But in the meantime, we've got to work with the situation we've got in the world.

there is no such thing as a perfect world , the nearest we could ever get to perfection is to return to Satya Yuga , when all people were just , ....in this degenerate age of Kali we are far from just , greed and corruption are predominant , which means even if scientists with their hearts in the right place do come up with methods of manipulating material nature with the good intention to benifit mankind , there is allways some financialy led corperation waiting in the wings who is only too eager to comercialise any discovery and patent it for the purpose of material gain .

as human beings we have the choice , but due to our greed the west eats like kings and allows many in third world countries to starve , .....whilst we keep them poor and take the produce they should be growing to feed them selves for our own enjoyment , giving them little in return , ....

This is bad. No arguments there. But it is nevertheless a fact that improving nutrition would help billions of people, although it of course would not eliminate problems like this, which also need to be combated.

again your intentions are laudable , and also those of all that work with similar motivation, ....but if we all ate a less meat orientated diet there would be ample food for all , every one knows that the water and grain that is needed to feed animals intended for slaughter far outstrips the amount of flesh available at the end of the opperation , in other words we are now supporting genetic modification of food stuffs to feed the worlds poor rather than give a thought to our own consumption when it is our excessive consumption that is causing their depravation .


Now now. Some of the reasoning behind the development of this technology, which I would like to remind you I am against the implementation of, was that it would ensure containment of transgenic DNA (i.e. the crops couldn't cross with wild relatives, because their seeds are infertile - turns out this isn't much of an issue anyway), that it would make crop rotation more efficient by reducing volunteer plants from leftover seed in the ground and that it would prevent spoilage of seed due to sprouting.

If we don't do experiments, we can't advance.

this is what facinates me the most , ...our naive beleif that we are advanced , or that we are advancing , ...

in Satya Yuga we were so much more advanced , we lived in accordance with this material universe we took only what was nececary for our daily needs and shared the remainder as we knew it to be a gift from God , never would it have occured to the satvic mind to build a society based upon posession and the ammassing of financial wealth , ...our Dharma is not to provide for our own security alone , but to support the entire of creation , this we could easily do by taking only our own fair share , if this were done there would be no need for scientific intervention , it is only because of our greed that there are shortages , ....



Here's where I have to say I love you for your trusting nature :)

Leaving things to the integrity of the farmer is asking for trouble - so many just don't care that much about the environment, or will be a bit lazy, or won't understand many issues involved in farming, and how they impact the world. We have laws and regulations for a reason.

there were allways rules that governed all society but these were laws of the universe expanded upon for our benifit by countless incarnations of the supreme , .....we do not need man made rules when we have divine revelation , ....

I draw your attention again the ten Yamas , ......
  1. Ahiṃsā (अहिंसा): Nonviolence
  2. Satya (सत्य): truthfulness
  3. Asteya (अस्तेय): not stealing
  4. Brahmacharya (ब्रह्मचर्य): continence
  5. Kṣamā (क्षमा): forgiveness[10]
  6. Dhṛti (धृति): fortitude
  7. Dayā (दया): compassion[10]
  8. Ārjava (आर्जव): non-hypocrisy, sincerity[11]
  9. Mitāhāra (मितहार): measured diet
  10. Śauca (शौच): purity, cleanliness
Firstly , ... Ahimsa , ...is it not wrong to cause harm to others by taking more than ones fair share ?
then , ...Asteya , ....is it not sealing to take more than one needs ? , ...is that not against , ..Daya , ....where is the commpassion in greed ?

and of the farmer we should all make efforts to fulfill our sva dharma , let the farmer hand down knowledge from generation to generation and let their integrity develop from their pride in their ability to fulfill their Dharma , it is the manmade rules make the farmer resentfull and lazy , no one responds well to external rulings , ..we all have in internal integrity which belongs to the lord , we need to bring that integrity to the surface .

I hadn't heard of her, but I went to her Wikipedia page and saw her basic stances about things and her arguments.

On many things, I agree with her. I agree with her on her feminist advocacy, very strongly. This is very important. I agree with her that the long-term patenting of plants is bad. Especially naturally-occurring plants.

I disagree with her on her opposition to Golden Rice - she says that greens eaten in Bengal could have the same effect r.e. Vitamin A deficiencies. Yes, they could. But so many people just don't have access to this, and the fastest, most efficient way to get these people Vitamin A is via Golden Rice, as they are already growing rice and it wouldn't require an overhaul of infrastructure and a reshaping of the economy. I also disagree with her having protested food aid coming from the USA, because it contained GM-derived vegetables.

please read more about her , ...not just wickipedia , ...even if you dont agree , ...please hear what many want for them selves , what indians in the feilds want and need , it may well prove to be very instructfull , ....

What I'd really like you to understand is that GM is just a technology. No more. It's just a simple way by which we can introduce new traits into plants (or other organisms), or modify existing traits. Please don't blame GM for the problems which already exist in this intensive farming industry regardless of it.

what if some one modified me at birth , ....to make me a more perfect and disease resistant human being , ....wouldnt that be interfering with my Karma , .....? ....and the lessons I have to learn in this lifetime ?[/quote][/QUOTE]
 

Kirran

Premium Member
that is good :)

a lot of points I wont labour on save to say that I am realy sceptical as to whether we should be playing god in this way , yes there is some good in modification , but I dont trust the large corporations to usit in a totaly compassionate manner , , I am affraid where money is involved the good intentions get hijacked somewhere along the lines , ....nor should we rule out the possibilities of unforseen circumstances , .....

life it self is a very delicate ballance even , if by trying to benifit mankind we accidentaly upset that fragile ballance we could prehaps caused more dammage that we can now immagine , ....

if we realy want to feed the world there are other ways to do it , but it would rely upon us taking more responcibility our selves , ......

We're 'playing God' whenever we do anything, really. After all, if we plant a seed, we're changing where plants will grow. If we weed a field. we're impacting the biosphere. If we shear a sheep, how do we know it was the right time to shear that sheep? At the end of the day, by living, and especially by farming, we impact and change the world around us.

The difference between modern crops and livestock and their wild ancestors is vast.

there is no such thing as a perfect world , the nearest we could ever get to perfection is to return to Satya Yuga , when all people were just , ....in this degenerate age of Kali we are far from just , greed and corruption are predominant , which means even if scientists with their hearts in the right place do come up with methods of manipulating material nature with the good intention to benifit mankind , there is allways some financialy led corperation waiting in the wings who is only too eager to comercialise any discovery and patent it for the purpose of material gain .

as human beings we have the choice , but due to our greed the west eats like kings and allows many in third world countries to starve , .....whilst we keep them poor and take the produce they should be growing to feed them selves for our own enjoyment , giving them little in return , ....

Certainly, these things can be easily corrupted, easily used for financial gain, etc. But that doesn't mean they always are, or will be. Nor does it man we shouldn't do them, as it's true of anything. Should we stop using antibiotics or vaccines because some companies make money out of them?

I agree, there is a lack of compassion evident in wealth disparity. It's a real shame.

again your intentions are laudable , and also those of all that work with similar motivation, ....but if we all ate a less meat orientated diet there would be ample food for all , every one knows that the water and grain that is needed to feed animals intended for slaughter far outstrips the amount of flesh available at the end of the opperation , in other words we are now supporting genetic modification of food stuffs to feed the worlds poor rather than give a thought to our own consumption when it is our excessive consumption that is causing their depravation .

Yes, it's true, but sadly meat consumption continues to rise in many parts of the world (aside from some areas of the Western world). It would reduce the stress on arable land and make more food available if we stopped eating meat. But this is impactical, people aren't going to stop eating meat. It should be discouraged, I think. But that's only one part of a solution.

this is what facinates me the most , ...our naive beleif that we are advanced , or that we are advancing , ...

I mean scientifically. Like, in material science. We're improving medicine, we're improving our agricultural production, we're improving power generation. That kind of thing.

Not spiritually, or whatever other metric.

in Satya Yuga we were so much more advanced , we lived in accordance with this material universe we took only what was nececary for our daily needs and shared the remainder as we knew it to be a gift from God , never would it have occured to the satvic mind to build a society based upon posession and the ammassing of financial wealth , ...our Dharma is not to provide for our own security alone , but to support the entire of creation , this we could easily do by taking only our own fair share , if this were done there would be no need for scientific intervention , it is only because of our greed that there are shortages , ....

Well, I don't know about that, I wasn't around at the time.

But I agree with you entirely that building a society based on personal possession, attaching self-worth to material gain, and so on, are unhelpful. But this is the world we live in, and what we've got as our starting point to improve things.

there were allways rules that governed all society but these were laws of the universe expanded upon for our benifit by countless incarnations of the supreme , .....we do not need man made rules when we have divine revelation , ....

I draw your attention again the ten Yamas , ......
  1. Ahiṃsā (अहिंसा): Nonviolence
  2. Satya (सत्य): truthfulness
  3. Asteya (अस्तेय): not stealing
  4. Brahmacharya (ब्रह्मचर्य): continence
  5. Kṣamā (क्षमा): forgiveness[10]
  6. Dhṛti (धृति): fortitude
  7. Dayā (दया): compassion[10]
  8. Ārjava (आर्जव): non-hypocrisy, sincerity[11]
  9. Mitāhāra (मितहार): measured diet
  10. Śauca (शौच): purity, cleanliness
Firstly , ... Ahimsa , ...is it not wrong to cause harm to others by taking more than ones fair share ?
then , ...Asteya , ....is it not sealing to take more than one needs ? , ...is that not against , ..Daya , ....where is the commpassion in greed ?

and of the farmer we should all make efforts to fulfill our sva dharma , let the farmer hand down knowledge from generation to generation and let their integrity develop from their pride in their ability to fulfill their Dharma , it is the manmade rules make the farmer resentfull and lazy , no one responds well to external rulings , ..we all have in internal integrity which belongs to the lord , we need to bring that integrity to the surface .
I'm familiar with the five yamas of Patanjali, but it is much the same. I'm not arguing that these are great virtues to have.

I know many farmers who have bee farming for many generations. I don't think it's the manmade rules that make them not care about the environment, I think the manmade rules go some measure to protecting the environment.

Do you think if we had no manmade rules, left things to people's integrities, society would have less conflict, less problems?

please read more about her , ...not just wickipedia , ...even if you dont agree , ...please hear what many want for them selves , what indians in the feilds want and need , it may well prove to be very instructfull , ....

I may do so.

Although there are many Indians in the fields who are really into GM.

In Oriya, there's a new strain of rice, called Swarna-Sub1, which has slightly whiter grains, as well as a greater ability to resist floods, which has been adopted in dry areas because they think its grains are a better offering to the devas thanks to their colour :)

what if some one modified me at birth , ....to make me a more perfect and disease resistant human being , ....wouldnt that be interfering with my Karma , .....? ....and the lessons I have to learn in this lifetime ?

I was born by C section. Without an artificial intervention, I and my mother would have died. Was the C section interfering with my karma, and that of my mother, and my father, who'd have had to deal with life afterwards?
 

ratikala

Istha gosthi
namaskaram Kirran ji

We're 'playing God' whenever we do anything, really.

good try but sorry not so , .....when we act according to our Dharma , we fullfill our duty , in this way we act in acordance with Gods will .
when we act under our own volition we act in ignorance of Gods will .
it is wery important that we learn to differenciate between the two .


After all, if we plant a seed, we're changing where plants will grow. If we weed a field. we're impacting the biosphere.

in that respect our very existance changes the biosphere , but this is natural change , it is the cause and effect brought about by life it self , ....

If we shear a sheep, how do we know it was the right time to shear that sheep? At the end of the day, by living, and especially by farming, we impact and change the world around us.

yes and we should think very carefully about how we farm . as you know I am against intensive farming , ..and I am not sure we should shear sheep inthe way we do , the sheatland islanders used to hand pull the fleece from the sheep at around the time that they would naturaly begin to shead their coats so there was no pain involved for the animals it is like grooming the winter under coat from a dog , ....some one brought me the groomings from their angora rabits the other day , this is the ethical way , ....Ok if you have breads that have been bread in such a way that they hold their flece we have to sheer them , but this is a problem and a responcibility that we have caused over the centuries by selective breeding , ....

100_4371.JPG
this is what nature intended , .....instead all the sheep in one field are under the hegerows today shivering because some farmer has sheared too early and it was pelting down hail it is still only may !!!

this however is the product of zelous over breading , and why , conercialisation, .......so yes of course it needs shearing poor thing , .....
images




The difference between modern crops and livestock and their wild ancestors is vast.

yes and we should be ashamed of our selves !!!


Certainly, these things can be easily corrupted, easily used for financial gain, etc. But that doesn't mean they always are, or will be. Nor does it man we shouldn't do them, as it's true of anything. Should we stop using antibiotics or vaccines because some companies make money out of them?

there is a ballance , and it is a fine one , the more tecnological developments we make the better we need to become at making moral judgements .

I agree, there is a lack of compassion evident in wealth disparity. It's a real shame.

it is more than a shame it is Adharmic !



Yes, it's true, but sadly meat consumption continues to rise in many parts of the world (aside from some areas of the Western world). It would reduce the stress on arable land and make more food available if we stopped eating meat. But this is impactical, people aren't going to stop eating meat. It should be discouraged, I think. But that's only one part of a solution.

yes because they do not understand what responcibility means they are too set in their selfish ways and blinded by their own greed that they practice short termism on a scale that means there will be serious implications for coming generations , ...one dosent have to be Hindu to understand that our Dharma is to be responcible and forgo the temptation to be utterly self serving .

I mean scientifically. Like, in material science. We're improving medicine, we're improving our agricultural production, we're improving power generation. That kind of thing.

......sorry to be so argumantative today and I love you realy , ...''but that kind of thing'' !!! .....Bunkam !!!

''we are improving medicine'' , ...yes sure , we take one step forward and ten steps backwards , ....we have more scientific Knowledge about disease but we are the grossest , over weight and over indulgent pigs of all time , ....we are the worst and most disgusting of all animals on this planet and we call our selves inteligent , ...

the big machine is trying to outlaw the old sciences , and discredit totaly safe non toxic herbal remedies used in preventative medicine . only to replace them with chemical paliatives for the problems caused by the cronic diet and toxic food that they produce and sell to the trusting populace , ....and why one must ask do the masses fall for this injustice , because it comes so easy in its shrink wrap packaging , boil in the bag noncence which leaves more time for them to watch TV , ... we have all lost touch with reality , ...and what is worse is that most people are not realy that stupid they know that the mass produced appologie for food that they are eating is bad for them but they are just too lazy to get a window box and grow their own salad , ...or for heavens sake get an alotment or share a freinds garden , ...any thing , but just go out doors get digging and burn of a few of the exess pounds that will give them early onset diabetes , ..or heart falure , then they wont need tie drugs !....then when people are more intouch with the soil which their food comes from , they may just be a little more content with their lives and stop wizzing around the planet having endless holidays to placate tham selves for the boring jobs that they do ! ...if they alll stayed home on the allotment at the weekends it would cut down on the excessive joy riding that the world does in the name of enjoyment , ..and it would cut down on our need for everincreasing power generation , ....

in short we need a rather large life style change , and science just keeps making the sticking plasters that keep us limping on in the wrong direction !!!

and what else , ''agricultural production '' ? ...do we realy think that it is an improvement , ...in order to be more productive , ...the Punjab has used all the underground water reserves and in the short space of about twenty years runs the risk of turning one of India's most firtile areas into a desert , ...australia has done much the same , farmers are comitting suicide or walking broken hearted and peniless from their land , ....realy is this progress ?

my husband has a book suggestion for you , ....T.Colin Campbel PhD ..Whole , ..rethinking the Science of Nurtition ,

I havent read it but the book reveiw confirms everything which I have been suspecting for years , ...the food that the scientist is helping improve is the food that is making us sick ! , ...then so nice they are , that they make also make the drugs to palliate the damage done , .....

No , and we are not advancing spiritualy either because weare becoming ever more attatched to this bodily life instead of understanding our temporary nature , ...instead we just want to lay on the sofa for as long as possible in this one body , ....


Well, I don't know about that, I wasn't around at the time.

yes you were , you just dont remember :p

But I agree with you entirely that building a society based on personal possession, attaching self-worth to material gain, and so on, are unhelpful. But this is the world we live in, and what we've got as our starting point to improve things.

improvement like all things comes from within , ..no real improvement comes in a quick fix it kit , ...

I'm familiar with the five yamas of Patanjali, but it is much the same. I'm not arguing that these are great virtues to have.

Patanjali simply shortened it , to make it a little more easily acceptable , ....this is the problem with the decreasing attention and aplication faculty of human beings in this Yuga , .....originaly there were Ten Niyamas as well !

I know many farmers who have bee farming for many generations. I don't think it's the manmade rules that make them not care about the environment, I think the manmade rules go some measure to protecting the environment.
, ...no , it is confusion which dissorientates the average person , and the average farmer , ...we are blinded by the promices of Science , and when it dosent quite work out as was planed the poor man is left scraching his head and rather confused .

look at the high insidence of Cancer anongst farmers who used chemical fertilisers with gay abandon in the early days when they thought that they were just doing their bit and providing food for the nation , ....and that was the pay back that they got , ....we met one lady , ...not realy so old at all , but who was having to leave her farm , her husband had died and she was going blind , she said she reconed it was the chemical poisoning from the years of sheep diping .

Do you think if we had no manmade rules, left things to people's integrities, society would have less conflict, less problems?

yes , deep down the human being has integrity , that integrity is that godliness within , we have to develop that in humanity , ....



I may do so.

please please do , ....then we can have happy and inspired conversations about truely positive and sustainable change for the good of all .

Although there are many Indians in the fields who are really into GM.

of course there are , ...there will be Indians in both camps , ...

In Oriya, there's a new strain of rice, called Swarna-Sub1, which has slightly whiter grains, as well as a greater ability to resist floods, which has been adopted in dry areas because they think its grains are a better offering to the devas thanks to their colour :)

OK I will check this out and report back , ....before I pass comment , ....but I wont be fooled by the colour alone ;)


I was born by C section. Without an artificial intervention, I and my mother would have died. Was the C section interfering with my karma, and that of my mother, and my father, who'd have had to deal with life afterwards?

surgery in this instance is more than justified , and I hope your mother recovered well and happily , and I am glad you are here ...but that has very little to do with Modification !
Surgery has been existant for longer than we give credit the ancient Indian civilisations practiced complex surgery , ...

when I said modification , ...I mean trying to determine a perfect human being by genetic engineering , who are we to say what is perfect ???

if you had asked my mother , ..she'd have chosen a Boy , I would have been destined to be hansome , famous and wealthy , and she certainly wouldnt have chosen the religious gene , so I would have been forced to be an ego maniac of an atheist !!! ....but look what the world has got , .........me :p ......just living out my karma , ....and thorougly anoying my mother for not being what she thought would make for nice family photos on the mantle peice , .....

then when my sister was born she also wanted a boy , ...Hee Hee that was her Karma , ..get girls and learn that one dosent allways have to have ones desires met , ...life has its own desires and sometimes our lesson is to make the best of what we have (of what comes naturaly) .


my word what a long post , ....My mother would also have had the think for one self Gene removed from me if given the oppertunity , ....then there would be no one to argue with you about the dangers of modern technologies , ....how boring , ...:p
 
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ratikala

Istha gosthi
namaskaram Dantech ji

What other great purpose could this veal I'm eating have? You think it was meant for greatness? Perhaps it would have cured cancer?

I'm not the biggest fan of vegetarian proselytes.

no one is Proselytising , .....go enjoy your veal , ...if you think factory farming is ok then that is your perogative , this is just a discussion for those who are genuinly interested .
 

Kirran

Premium Member
in that respect our very existance changes the biosphere , but this is natural change , it is the cause and effect brought about by life it self , ....

Certainly. But I'm saying, everything we do changes the biosphere, and we are in fact animals, so it is rather arbitrary to make a line beyond which the things we are doing is unnatural. Whether they are harmful seems more relevant, and easier to ascertain anyway.

yes and we should think very carefully about how we farm . as you know I am against intensive farming , ..and I am not sure we should shear sheep inthe way we do , the sheatland islanders used to hand pull the fleece from the sheep at around the time that they would naturaly begin to shead their coats so there was no pain involved for the animals it is like grooming the winter under coat from a dog , ....some one brought me the groomings from their angora rabits the other day , this is the ethical way , ....Ok if you have breads that have been bread in such a way that they hold their flece we have to sheer them , but this is a problem and a responcibility that we have caused over the centuries by selective breeding , ....

this is what nature intended , .....instead all the sheep in one field are under the hegerows today shivering because some farmer has sheared too early and it was pelting down hail it is still only may !!!

this however is the product of zelous over breading , and why , conercialisation, .......so yes of course it needs shearing poor thing , .....

Well yes, this is true. Things have changed a lot. It's unnatural for us to keep sheep in the British Isles, it's unnatural for them to even look like the Soays do and so on. There's been selective breeding for around 10,000 years going on.

It's very possible we were much happier before we started farming. But it all snowballed, and we can't go back, because there are too many people, and it's unacceptable to let them die.

yes because they do not understand what responcibility means they are too set in their selfish ways and blinded by their own greed that they practice short termism on a scale that means there will be serious implications for coming generations , ...one dosent have to be Hindu to understand that our Dharma is to be responcible and forgo the temptation to be utterly self serving .

Very true. Much better to be responsible, for oneself and society.

But part of this is working to improve based on where we're at, and how people act and feel today, not the ideal.

......sorry to be so argumantative today and I love you realy , ...''but that kind of thing'' !!! .....Bunkam !!!

''we are improving medicine'' , ...yes sure , we take one step forward and ten steps backwards , ....we have more scientific Knowledge about disease but we are the grossest , over weight and over indulgent pigs of all time , ....we are the worst and most disgusting of all animals on this planet and we call our selves inteligent , ...

the big machine is trying to outlaw the old sciences , and discredit totaly safe non toxic herbal remedies used in preventative medicine . only to replace them with chemical paliatives for the problems caused by the cronic diet and toxic food that they produce and sell to the trusting populace , ....and why one must ask do the masses fall for this injustice , because it comes so easy in its shrink wrap packaging , boil in the bag noncence which leaves more time for them to watch TV , ... we have all lost touch with reality , ...and what is worse is that most people are not realy that stupid they know that the mass produced appologie for food that they are eating is bad for them but they are just too lazy to get a window box and grow their own salad , ...or for heavens sake get an alotment or share a freinds garden , ...any thing , but just go out doors get digging and burn of a few of the exess pounds that will give them early onset diabetes , ..or heart falure , then they wont need tie drugs !....then when people are more intouch with the soil which their food comes from , they may just be a little more content with their lives and stop wizzing around the planet having endless holidays to placate tham selves for the boring jobs that they do ! ...if they alll stayed home on the allotment at the weekends it would cut down on the excessive joy riding that the world does in the name of enjoyment , ..and it would cut down on our need for everincreasing power generation , ....

in short we need a rather large life style change , and science just keeps making the sticking plasters that keep us limping on in the wrong direction !!!

and what else , ''agricultural production '' ? ...do we realy think that it is an improvement , ...in order to be more productive , ...the Punjab has used all the underground water reserves and in the short space of about twenty years runs the risk of turning one of India's most firtile areas into a desert , ...australia has done much the same , farmers are comitting suicide or walking broken hearted and peniless from their land , ....realy is this progress ?

my husband has a book suggestion for you , ....T.Colin Campbel PhD ..Whole , ..rethinking the Science of Nurtition ,

I havent read it but the book reveiw confirms everything which I have been suspecting for years , ...the food that the scientist is helping improve is the food that is making us sick ! , ...then so nice they are , that they make also make the drugs to palliate the damage done , .....

No , and we are not advancing spiritualy either because weare becoming ever more attatched to this bodily life instead of understanding our temporary nature , ...instead we just want to lay on the sofa for as long as possible in this one body , ....

Ah, but medicine is not health. This is addressing health. In the 'developed world', health is generally pretty bad. Your criticisms are merited for such people's lifestyles and expectations.

But I refer to the fact that a hundred years ago, an infection from a rusty nail would kill, my mother and I would have died during her trying to give birth to me, my mother would be dying of breast cancer and so forth. In many areas, we can now prevent these things. I think that's good. That's medicine, not health. Our ability to cure, when yes, of course, prevention is better, and should come first, but Westerners have generally become worse at that.

As for agricultural production: yeah, that's bad. But, say what you will, we do need more food. That's the bottom line. How can we increase food production, realistically, without increasing agricultural output? Obviously, eliminating meat consumption for all except those who need it for medical reasons would be great. But this is not realistic, sadly.

Thanks ratikala's husband. I will google it. OK, I googled it, read the review. Nothing I disagree with there, as far as I can see.

yes you were , you just dont remember :p

How could I? Memories are of the mind, which I don't believe exists :)

improvement like all things comes from within , ..no real improvement comes in a quick fix it kit , ...

No. But we are within that society. So improvement coming from within us, is improvement in society coming from within.​

, ...no , it is confusion which dissorientates the average person , and the average farmer , ...we are blinded by the promices of Science , and when it dosent quite work out as was planed the poor man is left scraching his head and rather confused .

look at the high insidence of Cancer anongst farmers who used chemical fertilisers with gay abandon in the early days when they thought that they were just doing their bit and providing food for the nation , ....and that was the pay back that they got , ....we met one lady , ...not realy so old at all , but who was having to leave her farm , her husband had died and she was going blind , she said she reconed it was the chemical poisoning from the years of sheep diping .

Or woman/other, indeed.

True. Overuse of chemical fertilisers has been damaging, environmentally too.

You know an emerging technology which reduces fertiliser use? GM crops :)

yes , deep down the human being has integrity , that integrity is that godliness within , we have to develop that in humanity , ....

No arguments here, agree entirely.

please please do , ....then we can have happy and inspired conversations about truely positive and sustainable change for the good of all .

Or you can read all about the processes of genetic modification of crops (Agrobacterium tumefaciens, CRISPR-associated systems, biolistic bombardment, etc) and then we can have such conversations ;)

surgery in this instance is more than justified , and I hope your mother recovered well and happily , and I am glad you are here ...but that has very little to do with Modification !
Surgery has been existant for longer than we give credit the ancient Indian civilisations practiced complex surgery , ...

Ah, but why is that OK, and other artificial interventions are not?

when I said modification , ...I mean trying to determine a perfect human being by genetic engineering , who are we to say what is perfect ???

I don't think we can say what is perfect. However, consider this:

I am a carrier for cystic fibrosis. That means that if I were to have a child with a woman who was also a carrier, there'd be a 1/4 chance they'd have cystic fibrosis, and a 1/2 chance that they'd be a carrier.

With today's technology, it's very easy for me to go to a doctor, say to them that I want them to make some embryos from my sperm and the woman's eggs, and check the single-cell embryos for the presence of the form of the gene giving cystic fibrosis. Then an embryo which doesn't have that gene can be chosen to implant, and become a fetus, and then a baby and so on. This has not only ensured that the baby won't have the terrible disease of cystic fibrosis, it has reduced the prevalence of this gene in the population, reducing future generations' risks of getting this gene. What's the downside to this?

if you had asked my mother , ..she'd have chosen a Boy , I would have been destined to be hansome , famous and wealthy , and she certainly wouldnt have chosen the religious gene , so I would have been forced to be an ego maniac of an atheist !!! ....but look what the world has got , .........me :p ......just living out my karma , ....and thorougly anoying my mother for not being what she thought would make for nice family photos on the mantle peice , .....

then when my sister was born she also wanted a boy , ...Hee Hee that was her Karma , ..get girls and learn that one dosent allways have to have ones desires met , ...life has its own desires and sometimes our lesson is to make the best of what we have (of what comes naturaly) .

my word what a long post , ....My mother would also have had the think for one self Gene removed from me if given the oppertunity , ....then there would be no one to argue with you about the dangers of modern technologies , ....how boring , ...:p

To think, we might not have had ratikala on these forums. An awful prospect.
 

ratikala

Istha gosthi
namaskaram Kirran ji

Certainly. But I'm saying, everything we do changes the biosphere, and we are in fact animals, so it is rather arbitrary to make a line beyond which the things we are doing is unnatural. Whether they are harmful seems more relevant, and easier to ascertain anyway.

Now interesting question you have raised here , .....yes in some respects we are just animals , ...but in other respects bedcause we have the capacity for reason this should raise us above the animal platform , ....so what is it that seperates the human being from the animal ? ok , ... on one hand we share same the desire for comfort , to eat , sleep mate and protect our own , ....but what seperates us from the animal kingdom is the capacity for reasoning , of course capacity can be used wisely or it can be abused in a selfish and ill reasoned manner , ...this is why the most perfect and complete philosophy has this wonderfull concept of Dharma , ...Duty , .....it behoves us to go beyond the animal instincts and and apply a rationality which dictates our behavior Dharma if understood takes us beyond personal desire into a realm of responcibility , ....how ever it is true that many human beings are closer to the animal realm in that they have not yet fully developed their ability ballance their personal desires with the over all welbeing of others , ...therefore we constantly make imballanced decisions and dispite our capacity for inteligence we still make very short term decisions based on our imidiate needs and do not considder the long term consequences .

when I say un natural I am refering to anything which goes against the natural order of the universe , any thing which might have an adverse efect , ...

Well yes, this is true. Things have changed a lot. It's unnatural for us to keep sheep in the British Isles, it's unnatural for them to even look like the Soays do and so on. There's been selective breeding for around 10,000 years going on.

to some extent a little selective breading is not so totaly un natural , but what worries me is deliberate engineering , this must in some way accelerate the natural process of selection , I canot help but wonder what we loose in the process eg the hardiness of hill sheep who can cope with all weathers , who birth easily without intervention , and who naturaly shed their fleece , ...this is just an example , just look at what we have done to both sheep and cattle in order to produce extra flesh or a heavier wool clip , .... this is selective breeding at its worst , ...the modern day merino is a prime example , ...I wont go into the details but you know the problems they face as a breed and all for the greed of a greater bulk of fleece , .....


It's very possible we were much happier before we started farming. But it all snowballed, and we can't go back, because there are too many people, and it's unacceptable to let them die.

this is where inteligent change needs to prevail over change for change sake , ....if we are to argue rationaly about how to feed the world , .....and please excuse me this world belongs to the birds and the beasts just as much as it does to us , ....there needs to be a ballance , ....ok , ....there are too many people , we have two choices here , we stop giving birth to so many offspring , ...., and secondly we begin to phase out the rearing of animals as a food source , ...please notice that I am advocating a gradual change it dosent have to be instant , ...many carnivors love to persue the pointless argument to justify their meat eating by asking what we would do with all the animals , ....

the question here is one of ethics , in particular the ethics of breading animals as a food source , ...., ...s as far as I am concerned it is a simple answer , ...leaving genetic modification asside the answer is simple , ....that Is why personaly I vered to wards Dharmic thought , ....and being Vegetarian , ...to me it is not ethical , ...and as things progressed I realised that even taking milk under the circumstances of this society , ...was out of the question its not ethical , if it is un ethical to kill an animal for meat then it is equaly un ethical to work a cow to death to produce milk , not to mention killing its male offspring at birth , ....no this is not Human behavior this is animal lust , ....it is well proven that we can live on a diet of vegetables pulses and grains , ....many cultures have done so for countless generations , ....with no liiefects infact many are healthier than us in the west whos diet is more based upon sence gratification than upon nutrition , ...so if we all ate less meat there would be conciderably more land available for the growing of vegetables and grain , ...there would be no need for death or starvation that is just a tactical argument used by those who dont fancy to change their eating habits , ...

Very true. Much better to be responsible, for oneself and society.

jai jai , ...this is the true meaning of dharma , ...to support , ...not to greedily support oneself but to support the natural order of this universe , ...

But part of this is working to improve based on where we're at, and how people act and feel today, not the ideal.

sadly one of the truths identified by the Buddha is that this life is an imperfect situation , it is impossible to avoid suffering , simply by taking birth we are destined to suffer and eventualy to die , ...this is inescapable , I appreciate that science wishes to improve the quality of life for the duration of our stay here , but in some respects it canot help but encounter dilema after dilema because at the end of the day imperminance and suffering are the nature of emboddied life , ....both for the animal and for our selves , ...if we realy want to make things better for ourselves we need to learn to come to terms with the true nature of life , ....that even the idea of an ideal situation is allmost an impossibility unless we are talking of the ideal being that of understanding the true nature of reality , ....

Ah, but medicine is not health. This is addressing health. In the 'developed world', health is generally pretty bad. Your criticisms are merited for such people's lifestyles and expectations.

Oh agreed medicine is not health , health is ballance , medicine can only be a second choice method of redressing imballance , and that imballance can be brought about in a number of ways , physical and non physical , ....

But I refer to the fact that a hundred years ago, an infection from a rusty nail would kill, my mother and I would have died during her trying to give birth to me, my mother would be dying of breast cancer and so forth. In many areas, we can now prevent these things. I think that's good. That's medicine, not health. Our ability to cure, when yes, of course, prevention is better, and should come first, but Westerners have generally become worse at that.

now here I do not want to sound insencitive , ....but I have to use a little Buddhist pragmatism , otherwise I dont think I could cope with reality , ....there is an up and a down side to all things , and this is where karma and its implications come into play , ....and sometimes such implications are too complex to be fully understood , but some how pointing at the possible options leads us to resign our selves to Karmas un seen workings , ...(well at least it does me !)....I cant say that I dont think that intervention should have been used for both your sake and for your mothers sake , I have to say that were you meant not to survive you would have been born in a differnt situation , there are still plenty of mothers and children who dont survive birth , ...and I am realy glad that you both are well , unfortunatly I lost a child , ...I wasnt given any choices , it happens , even with Science and medicine it happens , I just have to think that it wasnt meant to be , none of us know what is meant to be untill it happens I could be sad , but i just have to think what the Buddha said is true , in the ''bring me a musatard seed from a house that has not experienced death'' teaching , .... and if there were not death where would we all find food , ...there are too many people already on this earth and if scense continualy saves every life it will also inadvertantly cause suffering because there will not be enough space food or water for everyone to live with a decent quality of life . the only solution will then be to save everyone give them extended lives in which case we will have to clone another planet for them to live on because we are well on the way to exausting the recources on this one , and there is a limit as to how much life it can support .


As for agricultural production: yeah, that's bad. But, say what you will, we do need more food. That's the bottom line. How can we increase food production, realistically, without increasing agricultural output? Obviously, eliminating meat consumption for all except those who need it for medical reasons would be great. But this is not realistic, sadly.

people may resist the Idea but intime it will come , ..it has to , or desease will bring it about , ...Chicken production is so riddled with desease , potentialy leathal viruses and toxins that I am amazed that it is still legal , honestly whe are playing russian roulette , it defyes all logic but stillthey continue to farm in ever increasingly hazardous ways and look to science to come up with an answer , .....in all truth it is all down to money , ...farming is bussiness , I am not tanling about farming on the scale that your farther farms I am all for supporting small farmers and the system of fair exchange he grows the vedge and we pay him for his labours , ...there is no middle man nececary , ...no agrichemical industries no seed banks and no financiers , ....I dont want to be paying them the premium slice , I want fair exchange I pay farmer , he feeds me , ...simple , and if there are so many people in the world that there will not be enough then simple we all live of vegetables and grains , then everyone will eat , it is just the large financialy motivated industries that must die , but they are powerfull and so very persuasive they will not let go of their slice without a fight , ...they will defend their posittion I wish I was wrong but sadly I am not alone in seeing through their manipulation .

Thanks ratikala's husband. I will google it. OK, I googled it, read the review. Nothing I disagree with there, as far as I can see.

I didnt read it but the review sounded pretty spot on .

How could I? Memories are of the mind, which I don't believe exists :)

knowledge , ....one cant undo true realisation evenif one has memory of it or not ;)

No. But we are within that society. So improvement coming from within us, is improvement in society coming from within.

im not in that society I am deffinatly outside of it , ....that again is my interest in true Dharma , ....that is where change comes in , ..through realisation that this isnt right ! , ..no I cant support it , ...I have to find a more logical way , ..this western materialistic society is broken , corrupt and delluded , ...I dissown it :p

Gosh this is a long post , .... but worth while you raise fair and good questions , so I will continue tomorrow , ....




To think, we might not have had ratikala on these forums. An awful prospect.

oh some people may be glad of the rest , ...she has a habit of being a little too outspoken for some when it comes to serious subjects , ....but looks like tough you are all stuck with me :p
 

ratikala

Istha gosthi
namaskaram Kirran ji , ....

sorry for delay will atttempt to finish this time :)

No. But we are within that society. So improvement coming from within us, is improvement in society coming from within.​


this is the problem as I see it , this whole idea of improvement , isnt it a matter of oppinion ??? , ....not everyone agrees upon the same Idea of improvement , this is the argument at the moment there is natural diversity , if we attempt to perfect everything by removing what we see to be weaknesses , we are breading out diversity , ....this is dangerous .​

True. Overuse of chemical fertilisers has been damaging, environmentally too.

this was an attempt to improve things , and on hind sight it wasnt such a good thing to have done , we now see the error in that peice of judgement , ....

You know an emerging technology which reduces fertiliser use? GM crops :)

but havent there been incidences where this was short lived and it turned out that the crops needed more pesticides and firtilisers in subsequent years ???

No arguments here, agree entirely.

Or you can read all about the processes of genetic modification of crops (Agrobacterium tumefaciens, CRISPR-associated systems, biolistic bombardment, etc) and then we can have such conversations ;)

I am not sure I have the energy this evening , I need to read something uplifting this subject depresses me terribly , what I am worried about is that having invented a technology that will feed and cure the world of all sickness and hunger , ...that we will all live to rediculously old ages , in which case we will need more treatment to keep us alive even though we have low quality of life , the world will become overcrouded and instead of dying of natural causes we will kill eachother in a fight over other recorces , ....

Ah, but why is that OK, and other artificial interventions are not?

this is the problem , where to draw the line , ....?

once we invent a technology we have to use it , otherwise who will make the descission of yes and no ?
and the point I was making before is that we invented things that we thought would help and it turned out that they had unforseen consequences , ...everything has some form of consequence , ....

I don't think we can say what is perfect. However, consider this:

we cant make perfect its not possible and as I said even if we make for a temporary improvement there will be consequences which we will then feel the need to try to ajust , ...and so it goes on ......

I am a carrier for cystic fibrosis. That means that if I were to have a child with a woman who was also a carrier, there'd be a 1/4 chance they'd have cystic fibrosis, and a 1/2 chance that they'd be a carrier


With today's technology, it's very easy for me to go to a doctor, say to them that I want them to make some embryos from my sperm and the woman's eggs, and check the single-cell embryos for the presence of the form of the gene giving cystic fibrosis. Then an embryo which doesn't have that gene can be chosen to implant, and become a fetus, and then a baby and so on. This has not only ensured that the baby won't have the terrible disease of cystic fibrosis, it has reduced the prevalence of this gene in the population, reducing future generations' risks of getting this gene. What's the downside to this?.

there is no short term down side , of course no one wants any one to be born with a preventable condition , ...but isnt life such that as soon as we rule out one genetic weakness another will appear ? just as has happened in the world of viruses and deseases , we rid mankind of one and another develops or mutates , ...?

To think, we might not have had ratikala on these forums. An awful prospect.

Oh what even when I argue with you ;) ....., she just wants natural food and a natural simple life , ....
 

Underhill

Well-Known Member
I think it is inevitable that we will get away from eating meat. Someday society will look at it the same way we look at slavery. But I doubt history will look favorably at a great many things we currently find normal.

To paraphrase the great Dick himself. 'We live in the world we have, not the world we want to have.'

And I love a good steak.
 

Kirran

Premium Member
Now interesting question you have raised here , .....yes in some respects we are just animals , ...but in other respects bedcause we have the capacity for reason this should raise us above the animal platform , ....so what is it that seperates the human being from the animal ? ok , ... on one hand we share same the desire for comfort , to eat , sleep mate and protect our own , ....but what seperates us from the animal kingdom is the capacity for reasoning , of course capacity can be used wisely or it can be abused in a selfish and ill reasoned manner , ...this is why the most perfect and complete philosophy has this wonderfull concept of Dharma , ...Duty , .....it behoves us to go beyond the animal instincts and and apply a rationality which dictates our behavior Dharma if understood takes us beyond personal desire into a realm of responcibility , ....how ever it is true that many human beings are closer to the animal realm in that they have not yet fully developed their ability ballance their personal desires with the over all welbeing of others , ...therefore we constantly make imballanced decisions and dispite our capacity for inteligence we still make very short term decisions based on our imidiate needs and do not considder the long term consequences .

Personally, I word that as what makes us unique among the animals, as opposed to from the animals. But that's detail, so we agree here really.

when I say un natural I am refering to anything which goes against the natural order of the universe , any thing which might have an adverse efect , ...

OK, that makes sense, a sensible definition.

to some extent a little selective breading is not so totaly un natural , but what worries me is deliberate engineering , this must in some way accelerate the natural process of selection , I canot help but wonder what we loose in the process eg the hardiness of hill sheep who can cope with all weathers , who birth easily without intervention , and who naturaly shed their fleece , ...this is just an example , just look at what we have done to both sheep and cattle in order to produce extra flesh or a heavier wool clip , .... this is selective breeding at its worst , ...the modern day merino is a prime example , ...I wont go into the details but you know the problems they face as a breed and all for the greed of a greater bulk of fleece , .....

I think that which helps people is in line with dharma. So I agree, in many cases things are lost which are valuable. But, why would your sheep need to be hardy if they don't live in the mountains? Why would they need to shed their wool, when actually we're going to shear themm anyway, and will get more wool if they don't shed? Obviously, some examples, like Merinos, are obscene.

this is where inteligent change needs to prevail over change for change sake , ....if we are to argue rationaly about how to feed the world , .....and please excuse me this world belongs to the birds and the beasts just as much as it does to us , ....there needs to be a ballance , ....ok , ....there are too many people , we have two choices here , we stop giving birth to so many offspring , ...., and secondly we begin to phase out the rearing of animals as a food source , ...please notice that I am advocating a gradual change it dosent have to be instant , ...many carnivors love to persue the pointless argument to justify their meat eating by asking what we would do with all the animals , ....

Certainly, balance is good. Certainly, lower that birthrate. And certainly, let's work to phase out meat ating.

But, we still wouldn't have enough food. We need to increase production of food per hectare.

the question here is one of ethics , in particular the ethics of breading animals as a food source , ...., ...s as far as I am concerned it is a simple answer , ...leaving genetic modification asside the answer is simple , ....that Is why personaly I vered to wards Dharmic thought , ....and being Vegetarian , ...to me it is not ethical , ...and as things progressed I realised that even taking milk under the circumstances of this society , ...was out of the question its not ethical , if it is un ethical to kill an animal for meat then it is equaly un ethical to work a cow to death to produce milk , not to mention killing its male offspring at birth , ....no this is not Human behavior this is animal lust , ....it is well proven that we can live on a diet of vegetables pulses and grains , ....many cultures have done so for countless generations , ....with no liiefects infact many are healthier than us in the west whos diet is more based upon sence gratification than upon nutrition , ...so if we all ate less meat there would be conciderably more land available for the growing of vegetables and grain , ...there would be no need for death or starvation that is just a tactical argument used by those who dont fancy to change their eating habits , ...

I'm totally with you. I do think it is morally wrong to eat meat (unless one really needs to, of course). No argument at all. Reducing meat consumption will be very helpful, environmntally, in terms of health, in terms of food supply.

jai jai , ...this is the true meaning of dharma , ...to support , ...not to greedily support oneself but to support the natural order of this universe , ...

Jai jai

sadly one of the truths identified by the Buddha is that this life is an imperfect situation , it is impossible to avoid suffering , simply by taking birth we are destined to suffer and eventualy to die , ...this is inescapable , I appreciate that science wishes to improve the quality of life for the duration of our stay here , but in some respects it canot help but encounter dilema after dilema because at the end of the day imperminance and suffering are the nature of emboddied life , ....both for the animal and for our selves , ...if we realy want to make things better for ourselves we need to learn to come to terms with the true nature of life , ....that even the idea of an ideal situation is allmost an impossibility unless we are talking of the ideal being that of understanding the true nature of reality , ....

We can nevertheless do what we can to improve things, to reduce suffering. Indeed, we should.

Oh agreed medicine is not health , health is ballance , medicine can only be a second choice method of redressing imballance , and that imballance can be brought about in a number of ways , physical and non physical , ....

Good, good. But medicine can still be useful!

now here I do not want to sound insencitive , ....but I have to use a little Buddhist pragmatism , otherwise I dont think I could cope with reality , ....there is an up and a down side to all things , and this is where karma and its implications come into play , ....and sometimes such implications are too complex to be fully understood , but some how pointing at the possible options leads us to resign our selves to Karmas un seen workings , ...(well at least it does me !)....I cant say that I dont think that intervention should have been used for both your sake and for your mothers sake , I have to say that were you meant not to survive you would have been born in a differnt situation , there are still plenty of mothers and children who dont survive birth , ...and I am realy glad that you both are well , unfortunatly I lost a child , ...I wasnt given any choices , it happens , even with Science and medicine it happens , I just have to think that it wasnt meant to be , none of us know what is meant to be untill it happens I could be sad , but i just have to think what the Buddha said is true , in the ''bring me a musatard seed from a house that has not experienced death'' teaching , .... and if there were not death where would we all find food , ...there are too many people already on this earth and if scense continualy saves every life it will also inadvertantly cause suffering because there will not be enough space food or water for everyone to live with a decent quality of life . the only solution will then be to save everyone give them extended lives in which case we will have to clone another planet for them to live on because we are well on the way to exausting the recources on this one , and there is a limit as to how much life it can support .

While yes, all things here meant to happen, and yes,suffering is a part of life for the non-liberated, I am still so sorry to hear that ratikala. Sadly, we are a long way away from one another, so I can't offer you a hug.

But in reply to your points here - true enough. But we can still try to alleviate said suffering, as I say. Try to minimise it.

Also, I support space colonisation whole-heartedly :)

people may resist the Idea but intime it will come , ..it has to , or desease will bring it about , ...Chicken production is so riddled with desease , potentialy leathal viruses and toxins that I am amazed that it is still legal , honestly whe are playing russian roulette , it defyes all logic but stillthey continue to farm in ever increasingly hazardous ways and look to science to come up with an answer , .....in all truth it is all down to money , ...farming is bussiness , I am not tanling about farming on the scale that your farther farms I am all for supporting small farmers and the system of fair exchange he grows the vedge and we pay him for his labours , ...there is no middle man nececary , ...no agrichemical industries no seed banks and no financiers , ....I dont want to be paying them the premium slice , I want fair exchange I pay farmer , he feeds me , ...simple , and if there are so many people in the world that there will not be enough then simple we all live of vegetables and grains , then everyone will eat , it is just the large financialy motivated industries that must die , but they are powerfull and so very persuasive they will not let go of their slice without a fight , ...they will defend their posittion I wish I was wrong but sadly I am not alone in seeing through their manipulation .

Hopefully so ratikala. Hopefully so. Shall we stage a protest? Or start a petition?

im not in that society I am deffinatly outside of it , ....that again is my interest in true Dharma , ....that is where change comes in , ..through realisation that this isnt right ! , ..no I cant support it , ...I have to find a more logical way , ..this western materialistic society is broken , corrupt and delluded , ...I dissown it :p

Haha, but we are nevertheless both part of the global society, by virtue of the fact that we interact with people.

And in any case, if one counts those who aren't deluded etc to such an extent as not being Westerners, then of course Western society is going to look very bad. But really, it's very mixed. I am a Westerner, and would you say I am guilty of these things? I don't drink, do drugs, watch TV, sit on the sofa all day, eat meat (or anything tamasic/rajasic) and so on.​

oh some people may be glad of the rest , ...she has a habit of being a little too outspoken for some when it comes to serious subjects , ....but looks like tough you are all stuck with me :p

Oh no :(

sorry for delay will atttempt to finish this time :)

Don't worry, I took a while to reply too! Takes some energy to reply to this :)

this is the problem as I see it , this whole idea of improvement , isnt it a matter of oppinion ??? , ....not everyone agrees upon the same Idea of improvement , this is the argument at the moment there is natural diversity , if we attempt to perfect everything by removing what we see to be weaknesses , we are breading out diversity , ....this is dangerous .

Yes, true, improvement is subjective. But we've just gotta work with that.

As for breeding out diversity. Yes, a lot of diversity has been bred out, and is being bred out, of crops, and livestock. That's one of the disadvantages of breeding techniques, which can be fixed through genetic modification.

this was an attempt to improve things , and on hind sight it wasnt such a good thing to have done , we now see the error in that peice of judgement , ....

Yes, that's true.

but havent there been incidences where this was short lived and it turned out that the crops needed more pesticides and firtilisers in subsequent years ???

Maybe. But not that I've ever heard of. I'm happy to learn about them.

I am not sure I have the energy this evening , I need to read something uplifting this subject depresses me terribly , what I am worried about is that having invented a technology that will feed and cure the world of all sickness and hunger , ...that we will all live to rediculously old ages , in which case we will need more treatment to keep us alive even though we have low quality of life , the world will become overcrouded and instead of dying of natural causes we will kill eachother in a fight over other recorces , ....

Depressing? Oh no ratikala.

I learn a lot about the different signalling pathways and so on used by plants in my module related to this. I have the exam tomorrow. Then we look at how those are adapted in our crops, or how they can be adapted in the future.

Yeah, that's true. But hey, space colonisation could help.

Actually, projections show that our population growth rate will continue to slow, and the population, globally, settle at about 9/10 billion people. So we might as well have them all well fed.

this is the problem , where to draw the line , ....?

once we invent a technology we have to use it , otherwise who will make the descission of yes and no ?
and the point I was making before is that we invented things that we thought would help and it turned out that they had unforseen consequences , ...everything has some form of consequence , ....

True, everything has consequencs. And so we need to be careful, check things, do tests when we develop technologies, and when we apply them. Won't be 100% foolproof, but nothing is.

we cant make perfect its not possible and as I said even if we make for a temporary improvement there will be consequences which we will then feel the need to try to ajust , ...and so it goes on ......

Agreed.

there is no short term down side , of course no one wants any one to be born with a preventable condition , ...but isnt life such that as soon as we rule out one genetic weakness another will appear ? just as has happened in the world of viruses and deseases , we rid mankind of one and another develops or mutates , ...?

Doesn't really work like that with genetic diseases. A new hereditary disease arising is massively rare, and also isn't affected by whether or not some already exist.

Oh what even when I argue with you ;) ....., she just wants natural food and a natural simple life , ....

Haha, I wouldn't call this an argument. More a discussion. A debate at a push. We're being far too amiable for it to be an argument.
 

ratikala

Istha gosthi
namaskaram

I think it is inevitable that we will get away from eating meat. Someday society will look at it the same way we look at slavery.

well I am glad that you feel this way , so why not give up eating meat now ?

But I doubt history will look favorably at a great many things we currently find normal.

Oh agreed there , ....please start to list them , ...then considder whether we should also be giving up these things too .

To paraphrase the great Dick himself. 'We live in the world we have, not the world we want to have.'


Dick who ?

yes true ''we live in the world we have '' , ....but we can live according to our concience this will bring about changes in the direction of a more perfferable and fair world .

And I love a good steak.

that dosent stop you from giving up !

unless you are saying that you ''love a good steak'' with more attatchment to the steak and your personal enjoyment , than to the wellbeing of the remainder of life on this planet , .... in which case that is just pure obtanacy and selfishness ?
 

ratikala

Istha gosthi
namaskaram ,

Personally, I word that as what makes us unique among the animals, as opposed to from the animals. But that's detail, so we agree here really.

thats nice , actualy I think that there are some animals who put us to shame , and that many so called human beings are more animalistic than some animals , .....

I think that which helps people is in line with dharma. So I agree, in many cases things are lost which are valuable. But, why would your sheep need to be hardy if they don't live in the mountains? Why would they need to shed their wool, when actually we're going to shear themm anyway, and will get more wool if they don't shed? Obviously, some examples, like Merinos, are obscene.

when I am talking about things lost , it could be disease resistance , imunity , , biodiversity of any species be it crop or animal is very important , ....if a disease comes along some will fall prey to it and others not , ...this is the natural order , a natural method insuring the preservation of life , ....

personaly I have nothing against a little cross breading of sheep , it is only when it is taken to unnatural extreemes Merinos are a prime example of our greed overweighing our consideration for that natural order , ....


Certainly, balance is good. Certainly, lower that birthrate. And certainly, let's work to phase out meat ating.

But, we still wouldn't have enough food. We need to increase production of food per hectare.

ballance is everything , ....I hate to say it but if we dont do it , nature will ballance the birth rate , every so often she will cause a disaster or disease it has to happen it is all a part of the eternal cycle , .....this is cause and effect , ....

I'm totally with you. I do think it is morally wrong to eat meat (unless one really needs to, of course). No argument at all. Reducing meat consumption will be very helpful, environmntally, in terms of health, in terms of food supply.

Jai Jai , ....if only a few more realised this , .....


nice

We can nevertheless do what we can to improve things, to reduce suffering. Indeed, we should.

yes we should , but as naturaly as possible , ..

Good, good. But medicine can still be useful!

but promoting health and well being must come first , ....health and wellbeing comes from practicing Contentment and simplicity , Buddhas ''fewness of wishes'' , ....the Niyamas 'Santosha' ......then and only as a last resort medicine , ...

mind you the measured (non indulgent )diet and the purity of the Yamas is important too .


While yes, all things here meant to happen, and yes,suffering is a part of life for the non-liberated, I am still so sorry to hear that ratikala. Sadly, we are a long way away from one another, so I can't offer you a hug.

But in reply to your points here - true enough. But we can still try to alleviate said suffering, as I say. Try to minimise it.

some things one just has to accept , .....Itend to feel that there is reason behind all things , we cant know it , ...not even sure if it would change much if we did exept it might help some to accept that there are things which are and allways will be beyond our control , ....

Also, I support space colonisation whole-heartedly :)

what you mean let us loose on another planet so we can trash that too , .....:(


Hopefully so ratikala. Hopefully so. Shall we stage a protest? Or start a petition?

petitions rely on someone on the otherside having some inteligence and integrity , ...we are bussy protesting here about the encroachment of vile chicken farms , they have filled herefordshire , ..now they are trying to get in to wales , and they are suceeding because in places there are very few people to object , ...and they cheat the planing system because they are all a bit simple here , ...and straped for cash so dont want to get into lengthly planning disputes , ....

actualy this is realy depressing me a little at present , ....they are going to polute and destroy the place I realy cant beleive how stupid people realy are , ....well stupid and selfish !!!


Haha, but we are nevertheless both part of the global society, by virtue of the fact that we interact with people.
,

I wouldnt call it interact , ...well not for the most of the time , ....I find it very hard to find many people that it is A, ..possible to interact with and B, ...that I would want to interact with , ....Oh dear I am in bit if a cynical mood at the moment , ...I just dont think the vast majority want to listen to any one elses thoughts they just want to carry on enjoying , indulging and turning a blind eye !!!

And in any case, if one counts those who aren't deluded etc to such an extent as not being Westerners, then of course Western society is going to look very bad. But really, it's very mixed. I am a Westerner, and would you say I am guilty of these things? I don't drink, do drugs, watch TV, sit on the sofa all day, eat meat (or anything tamasic/rajasic) and so on.
....

there now you've cheared me up , ....you are my favorite lamb loving Yogi , ...you are just western by birth , ..​


Don't worry, I took a while to reply too! Takes some energy to reply to this :)

Hee Hee , ...I am sent to test you , ....but no , ...its a good conversation , ...so glad you have the courage and energy , ..
Yes, true, improvement is subjective. But we've just gotta work with that.

yes it is this subjective and relitive that we need to think through very carefully , I think the Yoga principles should realy help you to find the right ballance .

As for breeding out diversity. Yes, a lot of diversity has been bred out, and is being bred out, of crops, and livestock. That's one of the disadvantages of breeding techniques, which can be fixed through genetic modification.

Im still very scared of this Genetic modification because I am sure that in the right hands it could be used well if used judiciously , but if used zealously by the wrong hands , ....I will deffinatly be praying to leave for another planet A.S.A.P. ....

Maybe. But not that I've ever heard of. I'm happy to learn about them.

I will try to look up some of the cases , ....

Depressing? Oh no ratikala.

yes I am very depressed by all this , ....and I am also depressed by vegans who think that all animal products are bad and that we shouldnt keep sheep for wool even if we keep them naturaly and appreciatively , so according to them we should all wear petro chemical by products and glow in the dark , ....no matter what those petrochemical plants are doing to the enviroment , ...dont think that they have thought that out very carefully yet !!!

yes this Kali yuga is depressing !!!

I learn a lot about the different signalling pathways and so on used by plants in my module related to this. I have the exam tomorrow. Then we look at how those are adapted in our crops, or how they can be adapted in the future.

good luck with the exam , ....you will have to explain this path ways in more detail later , ...

Yeah, that's true. But hey, space colonisation could help.

yepp , ...Goloka Vrindarban here I come , ...I dont want to stay here for ever with a few exceptions the inhabitants are nuts , the sheep are more intelligent than the majority of the Humans !!!

Actually, projections show that our population growth rate will continue to slow, and the population, globally, settle at about 9/10 billion people. So we might as well have them all well fed.

7.5 billion ish to 9 or 10 ,...yes it would be possible to feed this ammount , but much more it will just cause wars , ...

True, everything has consequencs. And so we need to be careful, check things, do tests when we develop technologies, and when we apply them. Won't be 100% foolproof, but nothing is.

I just fear the big money motivated machines , you guys have the good ideas and they abuse them , ...


Doesn't really work like that with genetic diseases. A new hereditary disease arising is massively rare, and also isn't affected by whether or not some already exist.

ok may be it dosent come under the heading of genetic , ...but , ....a combination of toxins , diet and stress are causing an increase of sterility , that is one way of limiting the population , ....also chemical levels in the enviroment and in the food are raising the incidences of cancers and alergic reactions , ...other dietry and life style habits are causing an increase in diabetes , ....and so it goes on , ...

Haha, I wouldn't call this an argument. More a discussion. A debate at a push. We're being far too amiable for it to be an argument.

I think we deserve an award the only two people of RF actualy having a discussion , ....debate ? no , ...a heart felt discussion , ....its your subject , you are investing time and energy in studying it , ....I am just erring on the side of extreme caution and advocating a lot of caution , .....


best wishes and all blessings for your exams , ....
 
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