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Understanding the Human Factor: Life and Its Impact
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 31, 2021
These lectures serve as light reading on the history, present, and future of domestication, changing plants and animals’ genetics to serve human needs.
The author started with the history of domestication. He pointed out that domestication is a two-way street and a symbiosis relationship. Humans must meet the domestication object halfway by changing their lifestyle for husbandry. Most animals and plants cannot be domesticated even when people tried hard. Only those willing organisms ended up living with the human.
The discussion then turned to the relationship between domestication and culture. Domesticated organisms spread worldwide with human movement. Tracing them is an important part of human history study. Such spreads accompanied the exploration of the new world in the past few centuries.
The next topic is the advancement of genetics knowledge connected with domestication, including earlier breeding technologies, the discovery of Darwin and Mendel on genetics. The discussion continues to the current controversy of trans-gene crops and animals.
The last topic is the future of domestication. In addition to genetic modification techniques, the author also talks about fascinating prospects of medical use of domestic animals as test models and platforms for growing medicine, human tissues, and human organs.
The lectures are not deep and insightful. They are not well-structured to deliver memorable knowledge, either. However, they are delightful. The author’s broad knowledge and first-hand experiences make the lectures both entertaining and worthwhile.
The author started with the history of domestication. He pointed out that domestication is a two-way street and a symbiosis relationship. Humans must meet the domestication object halfway by changing their lifestyle for husbandry. Most animals and plants cannot be domesticated even when people tried hard. Only those willing organisms ended up living with the human.
The discussion then turned to the relationship between domestication and culture. Domesticated organisms spread worldwide with human movement. Tracing them is an important part of human history study. Such spreads accompanied the exploration of the new world in the past few centuries.
The next topic is the advancement of genetics knowledge connected with domestication, including earlier breeding technologies, the discovery of Darwin and Mendel on genetics. The discussion continues to the current controversy of trans-gene crops and animals.
The last topic is the future of domestication. In addition to genetic modification techniques, the author also talks about fascinating prospects of medical use of domestic animals as test models and platforms for growing medicine, human tissues, and human organs.
The lectures are not deep and insightful. They are not well-structured to deliver memorable knowledge, either. However, they are delightful. The author’s broad knowledge and first-hand experiences make the lectures both entertaining and worthwhile.
July 3, 2019
This is filled with great detail about Man's dependence on domesicates, how we went from hunter-gatherers to eating food genetically engineered for our diets. Sojka, in his easy manner of speaking and teaching, shares how humans, plants, and animals have entered into a mutually beneficial symbiosis.
It is not my field of interest, and so I cannot drum as much as enjoyment about the content as others, but I found myself engaged nonetheless with the world's capacity for food production, the philosophical ramifications of the Columbian Exchange, the globalization of the food market, and our humble origins of domesticating wheat, dogs, and other living beings upon which we rely.
It is not my field of interest, and so I cannot drum as much as enjoyment about the content as others, but I found myself engaged nonetheless with the world's capacity for food production, the philosophical ramifications of the Columbian Exchange, the globalization of the food market, and our humble origins of domesticating wheat, dogs, and other living beings upon which we rely.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews