<story><title>The American Bumblebee Has Vanished from Eight States</title><url>https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/american-bumblebee-has-vanished-from-eight-us-states-180978817/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rasengan</author><text>We think with our weak technologies and chemistries that we can play God.&lt;p&gt;However, it is so far from the truth - in an attempt to create more vegetation we have decreased a critical component needed to help said vegetation grow.&lt;p&gt;Technology should be used carefully when in the environment of the unknown. Trials and observations should be conducted in limited capacity with a long window of study. Only then can we know of the consequences for our actions of disrupting naturally evolved and perfected equilibriums - be it that of the Earth or man’s immune system.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>0942v8653</author><text>Not even limited trials with a long window of study (how long?) will prevent this. Science itself is a non-holistic way of looking at the world, blind to what is not measured. Concerning this example, it seems like a predictable effect of pesticides and global trade -- not unexpected, though perhaps not hoped for. Instead, the principle of caution must be applied when using technology. Pesticides that increase yield or decrease risk by only 10% may not be necessary at all.&lt;p&gt;Any industrial action will disrupt Earth&amp;#x27;s equilibriums given the high level of consumption those in the developed world currently enjoy.</text></comment>
<story><title>The American Bumblebee Has Vanished from Eight States</title><url>https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/american-bumblebee-has-vanished-from-eight-us-states-180978817/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rasengan</author><text>We think with our weak technologies and chemistries that we can play God.&lt;p&gt;However, it is so far from the truth - in an attempt to create more vegetation we have decreased a critical component needed to help said vegetation grow.&lt;p&gt;Technology should be used carefully when in the environment of the unknown. Trials and observations should be conducted in limited capacity with a long window of study. Only then can we know of the consequences for our actions of disrupting naturally evolved and perfected equilibriums - be it that of the Earth or man’s immune system.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ethbr0</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;Technology should be used carefully when in the environment of the unknown. Trials and observations should be conducted in limited capacity with a long window of study&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;A laudable goal.&lt;p&gt;And yet, without the agricultural revolution of the 1960s, we wouldn&amp;#x27;t have grocery stores today with well-stocked shelves.&lt;p&gt;Cautiousness has its own price.</text></comment>