Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:
That the sickle-cell variation is healthier in Africa does not mean
that it is here and now in the U.S.
Of course not! But large number of people moving from one continent
to another is unnatural. I was referring to natural conditions.
A problem that is clearly caused by changes in environment should
be fixed by changing the environment back the way it was.
How far back? And how much do we change? And who manages said change?
To fix the obesity problem we move back to foodways circa 1965.
That's not a big deal. See: fast food portion distortion.
http://www.mealsmatter.org/EatingForHealth/Topics/article.aspx?articleId=53
Serving Sizes Then and Now
Food or beverage 1950s Expanded 2003 portion
French fries 2.4 ounces up to 7.1 ounces
Fountain soda 7.0 ounces 12 to 64 ounces
Hamburger patty 1.6 ounces up to 8.0 ounces
Hamburger sandwich 3.9 ounces 4.4 to 12.6 ounces
Muffin 3.0 ounces 6.5 ounces
Pasta serving 1.5 cups 3.0 cups
Chocolate bar 1 ounce 2.6 to 8 ounces
In my opinion, many social problems such as obesity are easier to fix
than people realize. I realize it is difficult, but the difficulties
are exaggerated in the mass media. The energy crisis is also easier
and cheaper to fix than we realize, even without cold fusion. Mainly
we lack gumption.
Global warming will be hard to fix without cold fusion. I distrust
recent proposals for planetary-scale engineering, such as the project
advocated by Russ George to put iron oxide into to the ocean. Of
course we are already engaged in planetary-scale engineering, pumping
megatons of CO2 into the atmosphere, but I would prefer to stop,
rather than pumping something else into the atmosphere or oceans.
- Jed
