"No, I swear officer, the potato made me do it!"
In Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan, takes an interesting stance on the mechanism of domestication of plants. No longer is it the humans, toiling away in the fields, the main driving force of this mechanism - but plants themselves. Living in the world along side animals, plants adapt (evolve) to better seduce us. Exploiting our desires to better their overall fitness. Indeed, just as Pollan states, I don't think I'll ever think of my garden again as just something I do as a hobby (xiv, xv). Plants know what we want, and they take full advantage of that - getting attention and care as a bonus. In a way, we are their (clueless) slaves, serving the almighty plants, and begging for a reward.
I truly enjoyed reading and learning (hopefully) Pollan's view on domestication and how we (people) erroneously think we're in charge (xvi). Really plants only put up with us and our polluting ways because (presently) it is favourable to coevolve. Once again, I digress to John Wyndham's Day of the Triffids - it'll be a scary world where plants no longer need us. Even scarier is Pollan's statement that they know us better than we know ourselves (xvi, xvii) - they evolve, adapt to be as appealing to us as possible, while all we do is say,"Hey cool, I can use this!" but they already knew that, didn't they?
What further struck me in Pollan's dissection of domestication was the fact that humans tend to be fascinated by 'wild' species rather than by the domesticated ones (xvi). I've never really thought about this, but it seems so true. I mean, who wouldn't say that a bear or cougar is more hardcore or interesting than the common house cat or dog?
Plamka (cat), Panda (dog) ... yeah, not too intense are they?
"... beauty's gravitational pull..." (xviii) The concept which arose when human culture became attracted to a flower's beauty. Unfortunately the 'beauty' of this idea has been repeatedly tarnished for me - oh yes, thank you for this bouquet of reproductive structures. (Which now makes me wonder why flowers are given as a gesture of congratulations?) I digress, sorry.
Lastly, Pollan's revised definition of fitness really wrapped up the argument well. Where 'fitness' is now the ability to get along with people, the most powerful evolutionary force (and to think we're total suckers to their devices). If we don't like 'em, they don't thrive as well as those that we do prefer - yet they know what we like, so we sow them - it's an idea of circular reasoning. This idea also makes humans seem cliquey towards plants - loving some, shunning others.
PS: "... back to Amsterdam, where another, far less lovely flower has made itself ... more precious than gold." Brilliant, meaning that Amsterdam and BC are best 'buds'.
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