As always, Hili is here to announce big changes in my life. This will be the first of only two posts today.
Hili: So you are really going to retire?
Jerry: Yes, I am.
Hili: And what are you going to do then?
Jerry: More or less the same thing.
In Polish:
Hili: Czy to prawda, że dziś przechodzisz na emeryturę?
Jerry: Tak, to prawda.
Hili: I co będziesz robił?
Jerry: Właściwie to samo.
I can think of no better being with whom to share such a day. 🙂
You’re talking to Hili?
Congratulations. Life goes on.
Think of this not as an ending, but a beginning…and if that’s the beginning of spending lots of time with Hili (or a Bengal…?), then that’s a very good thing indeed! If nothing else, it’s much easier herding cats than students….
b&
Prof Coyne:
Some time ago you wrote about Bill Nye and his misunderstanding of GMOs. I asked you a question regarding inserting a gene of one species into a different species. I asked the question not because I was questioning the safety of GMOs but because of something I had read in a book by Richard Dawkins titled River Out of Eden.
On pages 128-129 Prof. Dawkins writes,” A gene usually has more than one effect, often on parts of the body that are superficially quite distinct. Not only is this “plieotropy” a fact , it is also very much to be expected, given that the genes exert their effects on embryonic development and embryonic development is a complicated process. So, any new mutation is likely to have not just one effect but several.”
I wondered how the people who produce GMOs could know all the effects of inserting a “mutation” into the genome of another species.
Is this a relevant question or am I missing something?
Please understand that I ask this question because I do not understand and I want to understand. I guess I do want to know why GMOs are safe because I’m tired of people telling me they’re not.
Yes, it’s a valid question, and all I can say is that it’s impossible to know in advance all of the possible effects of an inserted gene, but that’s why the companies test these things extensively before they market them. Certainly one can find out if the gene hurts the organism, or is unsafe to humans. All we can do is make our best guess and ask for a considerable assurance of safety. Given the results so far, and the precautions in place, I am confident that we can proceed with GMOs using due diligence. If you asked for complete 100% assurance that nothing bad can ever happen, well, there’s no way to do that–science can’t answer such questions. But the record so far, as with golden rice, is good, and there’s no reason to ban all GMOs on the basis of hypothetical disaster scenarios.
Don’t know how much you want an Hili dialogue to veer astray…but, for me, this gets to my concern with agribusiness — of which GMO organisms are one small but well-publicized part.
Again again, I’ve no problem with the technological tool itself. It’s certainly got lots of great potential and has already been put to good use, at least with respect to golden rice.
But just this week we see VW (and now likely others) in the news for hacking their own cars to falsely pass emissions tests. Tobacco companies for ages pushed the myth that cigarettes are safe (and their own brands preferred by doctors!). The oil companies are the ones funding AGW denial disinformation campaigns.
I’d trust agribusiness corporations to tell me that GMO crops are safe and that they’ve properly done the testing and aren’t falsifying the science for their own financial gain as much as I’d trust them to tell me that their pesticides and fertilizers are safe. Only kinda sorta, in other words.
And the specific GMO crops they’re selling the most…are ones that will dramatically increase glyphosate usage and cause plants to constantly express insecticides. Neither RoundupReady nor BT crops are ones I can endorse — and not because of any concerns about the nutritional value or safety of the produce, but because of the harm they’ll cause to the ecosystem surrounding the croplands. I like Monarch butterflies, and I like the milkweed they feed on. I’m not willing to sacrifice either so Monsanto executives can collect an extra shareholder bonus.
b&
Thank you for your reply. I sincerely appreciate your taking the time. Since I am one of the many not qualified to offer an opinion on GMOs I have to depend on those educated in the field . I certainly would not call for a ban on GMOs. But unfortunately I can not take the corporations that manufacture GMOs at their word. So I ask people like you because I feel I can trust you. Thank you again
I think it’s a case of having to involve human nature, with it’s avarice, in conjunction with a potentially wonderful scientific discovery. Maybe we just have to push for better regulation so that we can all benefit from the positives and minimize the negatives. It’s scary to think we might do without such a potentially great improvement in agri-technology because we panicked at the risk.
A couple of decades into my engineering career, I took a geology class for fun, taught by an emeritus professor who was being contracted back, because the department didn’t have approval to hire his replacement. He turned out to be not the old fuddy-duddy I was expecting, but a dynamic instructor with a clear love of what he taught. We became friends.
A decade later, when I finally had gone back to school seriously for my geology MS and my degree was awarded, Cal’s replacement had finally been hired and he was cranking out all the papers he’d never had time to write while teaching. Now, 14 years after that fateful class, he’s pretty much wrapped up his own research and is being a resource for others, especially colleagues who are attempting to write in English when it isn’t their first language. But he still finds an excuse to go into the field with a former student or other colleague a couple of times a year.
May your “retirement” be every bit as fulfilling.
Hili–cats in general–are very good at getting to the point.
They’ve got so many of them…five clusters of sharp ones, plus soft and fuzzy ones at the ears and tail….
b&
Had to think about that “five” for a moment. Then it bi-, uh, hit me.
Yes — not a point one wants to miss.
b&
Maybe you don’t…
I would very, very, very, very, very, very, very much miss those points, and the cat to whom they’re attached….
b&