Philosophy In Defence of Nature
Breaking the Intellectual Silence on Eugenics
In 2021, several scientific organizations boldly declared the GMO debate over
, citing the apparent fading of anti-GMO activism. But is silence truly acceptance? Or does it mask a deeper, more complex issue?
The American Council on Science and Health, Alliance for Science, and Genetic Literacy Project, among others, proclaimed:
The GMO debate is
overWhile the GMO debate has been percolating for nearly three decades, our scientific data indicate it's now over. The anti-GMO movement used to be a cultural juggernaut. But as time goes on, the activist groups that once held so much sway seem increasingly irrelevant.
Though we still hear some moaning and groaning it primarily comes from a small group. Most people simply aren't concerned about GMOs.
- (2021) The Anti-GMO Movement Is On Its Way Out The anti-GMO movement used to be a cultural juggernaut. But as time goes on, the activist groups that once held so much sway seem increasingly irrelevant. Source: American Council on Science and Health
- (2021) The GMO debate is over Though we still hear some moaning and groaning it primarily comes from a small group. Most people simply aren't concerned about GMOs. Source: Alliance for Science
- (2021) 5 reasons why the GMO debate is over While the GMO debate has been percolating for nearly three decades, data indicate it's now over. Source: Genetic Literacy Project
🦋 GMODebate.org was founded in 2022 to facilitate an intellectual defense of nature through philosophy.
Upon noticing the claims by science organizations in 2021 that the GMO debate was over
, the author discovered that many nature and animal protectors were in fact silent on GMO and animal eugenics.
A philosophical investigation revealed that their silence likely does not stem from indifference but from a fundamental intellectual impossibility that we explore in our article The Silence of 🥗 Vegans.
Investigation of Scientism
The 🦋 GMODebate.org project is part of a broader philosophical investigation of scientism, the philosophical root of 🧬 eugenics.
The founder, Mr Jan Jaap Hakvoort from Netherlands, is a long time defender of free will since 2006 through the Dutch critical blog Zielenknijper.com that investigated eugenics within a human context.
The 🦋 GMODebate.org project delves into the philosophical underpinnings of scientism, the emancipation-of-science from philosophy
movement, the anti-science narrative
and modern forms of scientific inquisition.
GMODebate.org contains an eBook of a popular online philosophy discussion titled On the Absurd Hegemony of Science in which renowned philosophy professor Daniel C. Dennett (known for his best seller Darwin's Dangerous Idea
) participated in defense of scientism.
For those interested in the views of Daniel C. Dennett. Chapter ^ Dennett's Defense of His Rejection of Qualia
contains over 400 posts debating Dennett's rejection of 🧠⃤ Qualia.
Facilitating The GMO Debate
Philosophical Inquiry: A Global Survey
On June 27, 2024, the founder of 🦋 GMODebate.org, Mr Jan Jaap Hakvoort from Netherlands, started a global philosophical inquiry into the vision on eugenics and GMO among those working in nature conservation and animal protection organizations worldwide.
For the purpose, an advanced AI communication system was developed that transformed the philosophical inquiry process much as the keyboard revolutionized writing. The system translated intent
into conversational coherent language that impressed even a writer in Paris, 🇫🇷 France.
Au fait, votre français est excellent. Vous vivez en France ?(Your French is excellent. Are you from France?)
The project yielded profound conversations with people at tens of thousands of nature protection organizations globally and it was discovered that many organizations were in fact silent on GMO and animal eugenics, while in the same time expressing profound enthusiasm and interest in the philosophical inquiry.
Most organizations admitted to never have given thought to the subject GMO and a common argument given was lack of time
. Their willingness to admit this and to engage in a short email conversation on the subject however, revealed a paradox.
For example, in the case of Stop Ecocide International it was discovered that the organization had even cooperated with genetic enginering students from Wageningen University in the Netherlands but had never addressed the topic GMO, which some employees openly communicated to find strange
.
Jojo Mehta, the co-founder and CEO of Stop Ecocide International, later officially attributed it to lack of time
while in the same time expressing enthusiasm for the inquiry.
While the inquiry you are carrying out promises to be of great interest, I'm afraid I may have to disappoint you as far as our involvement is concerned.
... there are two reasons why SEI cannot engage directly with the GMO debate: firstly, it would be a distraction from, and could place at risk, our core diplomatic goal; secondly even if we wanted to, we do not have the person-hours available to dedicate to a specific issue like this.
The conversation with Stop Ecocide International resulted in an article about the GMO based eradication of the 🦟 mosquito species, in an attempt to provide an example case for why it is important to address the subject.
Ecocide and The Mosquito Eradication Case Should the mosquito species be wiped out from Earth? Source: 🦋 GMODebate.orgSilent on GMO
The philosophical inquiry revealed that most organizations were in fact silent on GMO and animal eugenics, while in the same time expressing profound enthusiasm for the philosophical inquiry and a willingness to contribute.
A conversation with DJ White, co-founder of Greenpeace USA.
[Show Example Conversation]
A Fundamental Intellectual Inability
Our article The Silence of 🥗 Vegans reveals that the real reason for the silence on GMO is a fundamental intellectual inability rather than a lack of time.
French philosopher Henri Bergson illustrated the problem by imagining Nature saying the following when asked about its fundamental raison d'etre
(reason for being):
If a man were to inquire of Nature the reason of her creative activity, and if she were willing to give ear and answer, she would say—Ask me not, but understand in silence, even as I am silent and am not wont to speak.
Conclusion
The science organizations were right in 2021 that anti-GMO activism is fading away and that most people, even 🐿️ animal protectors and 🥗 vegans, are silent on GMO.
This implies that Nature needs an intellectual defense.
The 🦋 GMODebate.org project investigates the philosophical roots of scientism, and through that, questions anthropocentrism (the validity scope of GMO) more generally.
Share your insights and comments with us at [email protected].
Like love, morality defies words - yet 🍃 Nature depends on your voice. Break the on eugenics. Speak up.