Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

So bees are important, quick google search reveal the bee is important for pollination. So can't one of the solution be find alternative way for pollination. Maybe even robotic bees? With the advancement of robotic technology, its not far fetched to think that this is possible right ?



Mankind will adapt to some extent and develop alternatives, e.g. hand pollination already happens in some cases now afaik.

There is even an entire group of technology optimists that e.g. think we might be able to break ground on another planet before the effects of us handling earth are realized.

In my opinion however, it will be tremendously hard to find working alternatives at the scale of feeding 8 billion people, across the entire world. I also expect that the effects will cause issues faster than we can adapt. As such it would be much better to prevent the issue as much as possible than to try and find working alternatives under time pressure. Once the effects start showing themselves and shortages become a reality, we will start seeing climate refugees, climate wars, etc etc.

But maybe we will succeed, maybe only 7.5 billion people die off and the rest can live another day up until the next mass extinction event.


>quick google search reveal the bee is important for pollination.

I suspect that you might not be the best informed person out there.


Ok, can u elaborate ? you mention about bees. I response that bee might be able to be replaced by some other method.


Unfortunately there is no other method to bee pollination which can operate at the same scales or the same price.

It's like talking about alternatives to soil: There are alternatives to soil, but you can't just quickly replace all of the Earth's vast food producing farms with a technology alternative without serious consequences, and if soil stopped working overnight, billions of people would die.

Bees aren't disappearing overnight, but they are disappearing worryingly quickly. If it carries on, losing bees is a very serious issue for our food supply.


Well, without being funny and I'm sorry for the implied insult but I just don't know any other way to really put this, however bees (and other insects) being pollinators is something generally learned by the end of primary school, at least round where I grew up. Having to google that information is a massive red flag.

edit - please don't let this dissuade you from googling information on basic subjects. But also be aware that if you find yourself doing so, then you know very little on the subject and cannot at all rely on intuition.


So invent a mechanical bee, or just keep the bee's alive that we already have. Which one sounds easier?


Thats the question, its seem that the difficulty and cost of keeping bee alive is higher and higher, compare to inventing mechanical bee or using alternative method.


There are lots of steps that can/should be taken to keep alive the bees we have.

Make homes for native pollinators[0]

Stop using Neonicotinoids and other pesticides [1]

Find ways to stop stressing out honey bee's used for pollination[2]

[0]https://www.honeyflow.com/resources/blog/what-is-the-pollina...

[1]https://xerces.org/neonicotinoids-and-bees/

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder#Possi...




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2025 batch! Applications are open till Aug 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: