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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Peter L Borst <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 18:17:50 -0400
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> It is easy to forget that we have very limited senses, limited reasoning ability and experience in only one tiny speck of one universe.

That statement, in my opinion, is a cop-out. Get this: I did not write "Balancing Control and Complexity in Field Studies of Neonicotinoids and Honey Bee Health." Sainath Suryanarayanan did. And he suggests that for sociological reasons, important truths are being suppressed, overlooked, or minimized. So, we are talking about this *one subject* at present. 

It may be true that there are sociological reasons why some research is not done, why some is suppressed or dismissed. That is a valid issue. It does not therefore follow that such is the case in regard to Neonics. It may be, but he is unable to prove it. On the contrary, there is a mountain of evidence that all the various players are in fact coming to the table. And, that Neonics may *not* be the most important factor. 

Into this, he injects -- what? The need for humanists. I'm sorry, but I just cannot grasp what is meant by a humanist in this context. So far as I can tell, he is referring to people like himself -- more probably, him. I submit he is just another Johnny Come Lately, that has no idea of what the beekeeping profession has been through in the past 20 years, let alone the past 150 years.

Without that context, it is impossible to make a meaningful contribution. I am reminded of when I worked at the Knorr Candle Factory, back in the 1970s. We hired some new guy and he immediately started pointing out all sorts of inefficiencies and the things we could improve and how he would do it, etc. You get the idea. 

I told him that he would have to work here for a year or two before he would begin to see the real problems, and then a few more years before he came up with solutions that were actual improvements. Needless to say, he left in a few weeks. So, nobody likes some outsider to tell them how to run their business. But -- it's for a very good reason. I may not know much, but I can always find some self appointed expert who knows far less.

Pete

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