Nanohedron wrote:Oh, I see. The use of the word "organic" as relates to food production, for example.
An unfortunate contraction of 'certified organic by the soil association' wilfully exploited by advertisers keen to add markup to their products. Since I was (and am) a keen advocate of the the Soil Association standards I found that misuse disappointing.
Not quite what I am looking for, but thinking along the right lines.
My phD was in 'organic chemistry' and was built on a brilliant example of the sort of thinking I am trying to describe. It is a bit technical but I will give it a shot.
(1) Pigs raise antibodies to foreign molecules.
(2) The antibodies help the pigs remove the foreign molecules.
(3) Male pigs produce boar taint which smell horrid and housewives wont buy boar meat.
(4) If we trick the pig into raising antibodies against boar taint then the pig will get rid of its own boar taint, its meat wont smell, and we can sell it.
Impeccable logic. Inescapable conclusion. Antibodies duly raised, blood concentration of boar taint duly reduced. Cheers all round, lets celebrate with a barbecue.
Staggering stink.......
So what went wrong?
Firstly, mistaking clear reasoning for correct reasoning.
Secondly by misunderstanding the nature of the phrase 'remove foreign molecules' - the only form of removal that the pig could devise was storing the antibody/boar-taint in the fat cells.
Thirdly by thinking nature is a machine. The pig wanted boar taint, and when there did not seem to be enough, made more. Which of course got stored in the fat. The metabolism did not realise that one part was making it and another removing it, so making went on full speed as did removing it. The consequence was hugely elevated levels of boar taint in the fat, all released during cooking.......
And exactly the opposite of the desired effect.
(I hope I struck the right balance of simplification/technical accuracy for the majority. Apologies if this comes across too complex or too condescending).
[Edit: 'cc' in impeccable - doh! (hey that is an amercanism I like)]