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Most livestock, fruits, grains and vegetable that exist today and we buy in our store shelves are all the result of selective breeding by humans over the last 1

Most livestock, fruits, grains and vegetable that exist today and we buy in our store shelves are all the result of selective breeding by humans over the last 100-200 years. More recently as the science and ability to do selective breeding has improved. Genetic manipulation is going to accelerate something that is already happening. For me genetic manipulation of livestock and grains is not as problematic as the western/richer countries patenting genes and making poor countries pay through the nose for it.

nojito 5y ago
If this didn’t happen in pharmaceuticals it wouldn’t happen in gene editing.
runeks 5y ago
> Most livestock, fruits, grains and vegetable that exist today and we buy in our store shelves are all the result of selective breeding by humans over the last 100-200 years. More like thousands of years. Also, before humans were selectively breeding, animals were “unconsciously breeding” e.g. fruits by eating the tastiest ones and thereby spreading their seeds.
koonsolo 5y ago
I don't fully agree with that timeline, at least not when you consider it more broadly. My granddad was a farmer (he was born around 1920). Back then, animals were still treated fairly well, and the animals themselves were also still natural. The real industrialization of livestock came after that, when he was already retired. Having raised and killed animals all of his life, he actually wasn't too fond of how animals were raised and treated after that. For sure he regarded all specifically bred animals as unnatural.
- xbmcuser 5y ago
  What has how animals are treated got to do with selective breeding? Even your granddad probably used selective breeding.
  - koonsolo 5y ago
    The real question is how far do you take selective breeding. Do you want chickens that can't stand on their own legs? Olden days: no, currently: yes. Do you want cows so fat that they can't naturally give birth to calves? Olden days: no, currently: yes. How do you breed animals? Oldens days: put the male together with the female. Currenly, jerk of the male and inject the semen in the female. It's all industrialized. And what selective breeding has to do with how animals are treated? Everything. Unless you claim chickens too fat for their legs, cows too fat to give birth, etc, has no impact on their well being.

nojito 5y ago

If this didn’t happen in pharmaceuticals it wouldn’t happen in gene editing.

runeks 5y ago

> Most livestock, fruits, grains and vegetable that exist today and we buy in our store shelves are all the result of selective breeding by humans over the last 100-200 years. More like thousands of years. Also, before humans were selectively breeding, animals were “unconsciously breeding” e.g. fruits by eating the tastiest ones and thereby spreading their seeds.

koonsolo 5y ago

I don't fully agree with that timeline, at least not when you consider it more broadly. My granddad was a farmer (he was born around 1920). Back then, animals were still treated fairly well, and the animals themselves were also still natural. The real industrialization of livestock came after that, when he was already retired. Having raised and killed animals all of his life, he actually wasn't too fond of how animals were raised and treated after that. For sure he regarded all specifically bred animals as unnatural.

xbmcuser 5y ago
What has how animals are treated got to do with selective breeding? Even your granddad probably used selective breeding.
- koonsolo 5y ago
  The real question is how far do you take selective breeding. Do you want chickens that can't stand on their own legs? Olden days: no, currently: yes. Do you want cows so fat that they can't naturally give birth to calves? Olden days: no, currently: yes. How do you breed animals? Oldens days: put the male together with the female. Currenly, jerk of the male and inject the semen in the female. It's all industrialized. And what selective breeding has to do with how animals are treated? Everything. Unless you claim chickens too fat for their legs, cows too fat to give birth, etc, has no impact on their well being.