“HOW ABOUT THEM APPLES?”: ARTIFICIAL POLLINATORS

Over the years of watching and reporting on the GMO issue on this website, one of the things that many brought to my attention by sharing various articles and studies, is the apparent linkage between CCD(colony collapse disorder), as the populations of honey bees colonies and other pollinators have dramatically declined since the introduction of GMO foods and the heavy pesticides they involve. As a result, I have also blogged about the latest gimick to "repair" the damage: artificial drones as pollinators. It is, after all, "no big deal" if the world's pollinator population declines or simply goes extinct, after all, they only keep most of the world's plant life going, and most of its food supply going. No big deal, especially if one has artificial pollinators waiting in the wings. Indeed, as I've previously blogged, there were scientists actually seriously proposing this as a means to get around the phenomenon of colony collapse disorder.

Well, according to this article shared by Mr. T.M., it's now actually been accomplished:

Researchers use drone to pollinate a flower

The opening paragraphs say it all:

Researchers in Japan have successfully used a tiny drone to pollinate an actual flower, a task usually accomplished by insects and animals.

The remote-controlled drone was equipped with horsehairs coated with a special gel, which the researchers say was crucial to the process.
"This is the world's first demonstration of pollination by an artificial robotic pollinator," said Eijiro Miyako of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan, one of the authors of the study, which was published in the journal Chem.
And, lest the connection between pollinator population collapse and the artificial pollinator is missed, the article itself makes the connection:
But many pollinators are under threat, particularly insects like bees and butterflies. They belong to a group -- invertebrate pollinators -- in which 40 percent of species face extinction, according to the same report.
The drone is an attempt to address this problem: "The global pollination crisis is a critical issue for the natural environment and our lives," the authors wrote in the study.
There is, however, a catch: it's still a long way from insect pollinators, due not only to the size of the drone, but due to the lack of artificial intelligence and independent movement in the artificial pollinator itself:
The peculiarity of this project is that it focuses on the pollination process, rather than the construction of a robotic bee.
As the authors note, "practical pollination has not yet been demonstrated with the aerial robots currently available."
However, pollination was achieved on a very large flower, and the drone was not autonomous: "I believe that some form of artificial intelligence and GPS would be very useful for the development of such automatic machines in future," said Miyako.
Much work remains to be done before we can emulate the complex behavior of insects and animals: "There is little chance this can replace pollinators," said Christina Grozinger, Director of the Center for Pollinator Research at Penn State University.
Hidden text: "we urgently need artificial intelligence in order to construct more efficient artificial pollinators."
And that of course, brings me to my high octane speculation of the day: suppose such artificial intelligence was constructed. And suppose, for a moment, all those artificial pollinators were under the controlled of a networked Artificial Intelligence, coordinating it all. Who is to say that said "intelligence" would even see the need for pollinator activity, or the human and animal populations that they ultimately aid in feeding? Waves of AI pollinators could conceivably become plagues of AI locusts. If this be the case, the "technological fix" could end up being an even worse nightmare.
Of course, one could always solve the problem by the simple fix of what appears to be the basis of the pollinator problem: get rid of GMOs, and let nature do what she was designed to do.
That, of course, would be far too simple, and not issue in enough research grants and profits.
See you on the flip side...
Posted in

Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and "strange stuff". His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into "alternative history and science".

13 Comments

  1. zendogbreath on March 24, 2017 at 10:44 pm

    crichton covered this directly and indirectly in “prey”



    • zendogbreath on March 24, 2017 at 10:45 pm

      state of fear too.

      weird how he turned suddenly neocon for state of fear, met with w and promptly got cancered.



  2. Robert Barricklow on March 24, 2017 at 10:52 am


  3. marcos toledo on March 24, 2017 at 10:39 am

    I read a science fiction novel that dealt with a situation like this. You control the pollinators you control the food supply you control the population. Full spectrum enslavement. I think the title of the novel was “‘Crisis On Cerbeus” but then our manic elites have never let reality interfere with their lust for power.



  4. WalkingDead on March 24, 2017 at 8:47 am

    It would seem in their effort to keep their bloodlines as pure as possible, the elite have inbred to the point that common sense is now extinct among them.



    • Pierre on March 24, 2017 at 6:41 pm

      and empathy, ‘what’s love got to do with it?” (/Tina Turning)
      plant love – “what’s bees got to do with it?”



  5. James on March 24, 2017 at 8:45 am

    See Black Mirror series 3 episode 6 for when artificial pollinators go bad, along with other themes….

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hated_in_the_Nation_%28Black_Mirror%29



  6. Kahlypso on March 24, 2017 at 6:49 am

    All good and well until someone… or something, decides somewhere that the best way to pollinate the flowers is to kill of the disease thats killing all the plant life and insects.. and is no equipped with GPS and a swarm of mini killers..
    Or someone somewhere has a switch they can pull and political dissidents around the world start dying from ‘small drone shaped holes in the head’ suicides… (how fast can these things fly?)



  7. goshawks on March 24, 2017 at 6:11 am

    “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” First of the day…
    goshawks – March 24, 2017 at 6:09 am.



  8. goshawks on March 24, 2017 at 6:09 am

    There was an interesting scene in the SF movie “Avatar” (by James Cameron) that could relate to this blog. (Spoiler alert!)

    In the movie, the rebellious scientist (played by Sigourney Weaver) attempts to ‘link’ to the planet’s “Gaia” consciousness and then into a native body. However, she dies before the process is completed, due to her previous injuries. Later, it becomes apparent that this planetary-consciousness has become aware of the deadly parasites (Earth humans) upon it – presumably, through the Weaver character’s experience – and responds en-mass in a climatic battle.

    So, I am curious whether (a) planet Earth has a Gaia-like aspect, (b) this aspect can ‘learn’ of parasites, and (c) this aspect has a way of uniting ‘Mother Nature’ against the parasites when needed. I can see a title now: “Gaia vs The Archons” or “Gaia vs The AI” or “Gaia vs The Anunnaki”. Grab your popcorn…



    • Sandygirl on March 24, 2017 at 4:26 pm

      Just think of when there’s a full moon, the higher rates of violence and craziness for police and emergency rooms. How good it feels to walk barefoot in sand or doing anything in nature versus using the computer. The interconnected magnetic field between earth and the sun creates frequencies that affect the human heart, brain and nervous system and works both ways. As for b & c, unless our hearts begin to send more love to each other and all of creation I do believe we the parasites/virus will be given a dose of penicillin. I hope it’s true because I really don’t want to see our children living as slaves under constant surveillance and never knowing what a real bee looks like, sounds like or even the pain of being stung, ouch.



      • Robert Barricklow on March 24, 2017 at 5:30 pm

        Well said Sandygirl.



    • sagat1 on March 24, 2017 at 4:59 pm

      The Great Flood?



Help the Community Grow

Please understand a donation is a gift and does not confer membership or license to audiobooks. To become a paid member, visit member registration.

Upcoming Events