4 ms·
I wonder what would be the side-effects of speeding up plant growth.
by kgdinesh 6y ago
I wonder what would be the side-effects of speeding up plant growth.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- hbogert 6y agoI think you have a point. There's no free lunch in evolution based systems, at least that's my perception.
- TomMarius 6y agoNo evolution needs to happen in a controlled environment.
- welfare 6y agoPlants have evolved to adapt to a certain environment, and if we change those parameters to promote a certain behaviour (e.g. higher yield) then most likely it comes at a cost (e.g. is the produce less nutritious?)
- TomMarius 6y agoEvolution does not optimize to global maxima, it prefers local maximas. The path it has taken so far is also pretty convoluted.
- spooneyluv 6y agoIt's pretty clear that sunlight isn't the absolute best spectrum for growing plants, so we know plants haven't evolved optimally to make use of the sun's spectrum as-is. I think a local max is the right idea. this tech is shortcutting that evolution and providing a better spectrum without using electricity, like LEDs would.
- Jyaif 6y agoWhy does the change have to be negative for humans? The products could just as well become more nutritious.
- Valgrim 6y agoI'm curious to know if there's a limit to selecting plants cultivars. What should we optimize for? Vitamins, minerals, proteins, glucids, lipids, fibers or other macromolecules? Should we allow some sacrifice in taste, appearance, yield, resistance, conservation?
- bingerman 6y agoIIRC there were some studies saying that higher CO2 in the atmosphere leads to better growth but lower nutritional value so that's one possible side-effect.
- moring 6y agoYou could probably distribute the light among a larger number of plants (think plants stacked on a shelf, or on a tilted surface), so you grow more instead of faster.