• @CanadaPlus
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    17 days ago

    So what’s a better study or metastudy? The actual results, aside from poultry being weirdly low-resource, seem about right when you consider the way energy usually moves through food webs.

    That’s “Life Cycle Assessment”, for anyone else that’s wondering.

    • @commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      117 days ago

      So what’s a better study or metastudy?

      personally, i believe that attempts to quantify any complex system into discrete metrics is likely to have blind spots and misunderstand the system as a whole. i think that if you are concerned about the environmental impacts of agriculture, the correct approach is to evaluate each operation on its own and try to optimize it for inputs and outputs.

      • @CanadaPlus
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        17 days ago

        You can probably see how actual statistics are useful for policy or public discussion, though, right?

        We aren’t going to fix any big picture problem by leaving it up to the businesses pedaling whichever product. Like, you wouldn’t apply that to an oil well, would you?

        • @commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          417 days ago

          I can see how politicians and bureaucrats would prefer statistics, but I don’t believe that’s a good source for public policy myself, no.

          • @CanadaPlus
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            17 days ago

            And priests prefer faith. How do you think it should work?

            If you’re against science as a concept maybe I shouldn’t even bother.

              • @CanadaPlus
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                216 days ago

                I don’t particularly have a comment on this specific piece of research (which is why I asked for a good alternative). What does science mean to you exactly?

                • @commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  316 days ago

                  this is literally the final for a 400-level philosophy course. i’m not going to be writing a 5-page essay here. i can characterize my own beliefs as an approximation of other’s though. i tend toward karl popper and other critical rationalists.

                  i think this question is too much to ask outside of a purely academic environment, and honestly don’t want to deal with it here. is there another question you think you could ask that would actually be answerable in a succinct way and tell you what you want to know about my perspective?

                  • @CanadaPlus
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                    16 days ago

                    It is a big question. For myself, somewhere in those five pages, it has to relate to things that are measurable. If you’re against measurement, you’re against science.

        • @CanadaPlus
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          217 days ago

          Thanks? I didn’t think there was any dying yet. I wasn’t even arguing there, professionals are often happy to point you to their preferred sources.