• @rdyoung
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    -510 months ago

    This isn’t the problem you two think it is. No one is talking about feeding an entire city from one skyscraper. But, you could feed an entire block from one or two levels of a skyscraper.

    I’m now going to block you two twits because I don’t have to time for this shit right now. Going out tonight to see Gladys Knight and I have to respond to someone helping me grow my business.

    • @[email protected]
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      610 months ago

      You know, if you feel the need to block people who are laying out arguments and being civil, then maybe you should rethink having Internet discussions altogether.

      • @[email protected]
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        310 months ago

        They ignore people providing data and argue their opinions are worth more than facts, call people rude names and take the chance to brag about themselves every chance they can take.

        So they are the average American apparently and exactly the right level of self assured to be the desired group to sell anything too.
        They really shouldn’t be here but none of us are ever gonna get that through to them. They will be right whether or not the have to ignore everyone else to be so.

        • @[email protected]
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          310 months ago

          I’m American.

          Thing is, I actually am interested in this stuff and am working on setting some of the ideas up in my own backyard. I just have some idea of the limitations and what problems are yet to be solved.

          • @[email protected]
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            510 months ago

            I know I know. We aren’t all like that but seriously they are all over this comment section being like this. Literally just above is one where someone says after providing a research study for emphasis "you aren’t entitled to assume a study is wrong just because of a gut feeling and this guy responded with:

            “Actually I am. That’s kinda how thinking for yourself works.”

            And I just can’t think of a more stereotypical, Self Assured American™ thing to say.

            I’m just trying to be practical and know that nothing is perfect, and have read up on some of the limitations of this to think it’s better than just ecologically friendly farming practices for widescape use.

            • @[email protected]
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              410 months ago

              I noticed that thread, too, and had a good pounding-my-head-against-the-wall session about it.

              This reminds me, too, of a thread I had some years ago on Reddit that was also about hydroponic farming. The other guy also had the idea that hydroponics would change everything, and would also shake off all the corporate control of farming. As if large scale hydroponics wouldn’t also become the new large scale corporate farms. Or that Monsanto would see the market shift and go “whoops, guess we’re irrelevant now”.

              I bring this up because I’ve noticed a trend of hydroponics advocates. They see the problems with our farming system, which is fair, but drink deep of the hydroponic flavor-aid and don’t understand the other problems of what they’re talking about. This tends to overlap with techno-fetishism. Grow plants in dirt? Like we did when we first learned to make fire? Move over, because I’ve got something that will make it way better without knowing how the current system works.

              • @[email protected]
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                210 months ago

                Sorry to sorta necro this but I had a couple of his numbers floating in my head and I had to do the math.

                He suggested that you could feed a city block with only 2 floors of a skyscraper which is already an insane ask but whatever.

                But that means for a city like Philadelphia, you would need a total of around 16,000 buildings with 2 floors each dedicated to farming which widespreads your farmers. Or if you decide to dedicate each building to farming only you still need 322 skyscrapers each 100 floors high to feed the city.

                Which means water pumps and infrastructure to support all that water for 322 buildings which is about the current number of high rises and skyscrapers in Philadelphia combined.

                You need to convert your entire city to food production just to feed the city that is just existing to feed itself.

                My God this really isn’t the win they think it is. Technology will certainly save us but man I don’t see it in the pie in the sky scifi answers but something boring like protein manipulation in yeast cultures.

                • @[email protected]
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                  210 months ago

                  Not surprised at all. Beyond that, I suspect even two floors is already too many to effectively power the thing with solar on the roof of the same building. Even converting solar to electricity to a narrow spectrum of light at 100% efficiency for the entire thing wouldn’t get you there.