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A lovely poem about how our society separates technological production from the human culture that it supports. There's much here that one could already know w

A lovely poem about how our society separates technological production from the human culture that it supports. There's much here that one could already know without having really appreciated. Not too long ago, I was talking with a bunch of friends when some random question about sugar production came up. We googled it, as one does, and while the answer was inconclusive the next half-hour turned into a bizarre sequence of revelations about just how complicated modern sugar production is. Look into it; its a slightly-smaller mirror of the oil industry, with its own industrial base and scientific expertise. I'm sure there are about ~100 people on the planet who know the key technical details, and if they're all caught in a fire somewhere, every cookie recipe that calls for regular white granulated sugar will suddenly be beyond human technological capacity.

leonroy 10y ago
There's an old story in Venice of a famous biscotti which the Venetians perfected. It was nutritious, would last for years (handy for those long voyages at sea) and was reputedly very tasty. The recipe was jealously guarded by a single baker who would pass it on just before his death. In this manner Venice became famous for this particular biscuit. Unfortunately the last baker to be entrusted with this knowledge whilst walking down the street had something drop on his head. The recipe died with him. Many, many years later the Ventians were under siege by Napoleonic forces. There was a fort holding out for days. Eventually rations ran out. As luck would have it the soldiers at the fort discovered a stash of this famous biscotti in one of the store rooms. They were still edible. I don't know how much of the above is true, I recall hearing the stories in Francesco Di Mosto's wonderful Venice series (highly recommended) but it does remind me how precious and fragile knowledge is and how easily it can be lost.
- webmaven 10y ago
  As always, "Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe".

leonroy 10y ago

There's an old story in Venice of a famous biscotti which the Venetians perfected. It was nutritious, would last for years (handy for those long voyages at sea) and was reputedly very tasty. The recipe was jealously guarded by a single baker who would pass it on just before his death. In this manner Venice became famous for this particular biscuit. Unfortunately the last baker to be entrusted with this knowledge whilst walking down the street had something drop on his head. The recipe died with him. Many, many years later the Ventians were under siege by Napoleonic forces. There was a fort holding out for days. Eventually rations ran out. As luck would have it the soldiers at the fort discovered a stash of this famous biscotti in one of the store rooms. They were still edible. I don't know how much of the above is true, I recall hearing the stories in Francesco Di Mosto's wonderful Venice series (highly recommended) but it does remind me how precious and fragile knowledge is and how easily it can be lost.

webmaven 10y ago
As always, "Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe".