Knowledge

After an exhausting game of basketball on my Playstation two it was time to eat. As my search for food was coming to an end I came across a bag of potatoes. So using the cooking skills that I have acquired in my many years I decided to make french-fries. As I cut my potatoes I started to think about Michael Pollan’s essay “Playing God in the Garden”. This essay is about the creation of “genetically engineered” potatoes that produce their own insecticide right inside their leaves. I began to wonder if the potatoes on my plate were the same “New Leaf” potatoes that Pollan talked about. I started to change my mind about eating the fries that I had already melted cheese on but they looked to good to give to my roommate so I continued thinking while eating. The government does not require New Leaf potatoes to be labeled in stores so it must mean they feel it will have no harm on people. One of the many reasons that government exists is to look over the wealth fare of its citizens. Think of some of the things that a company must put on their products, labels on alcohol and cigarettes tell the dangers that come from using them, and all foods packages must have the ingredients printed on them. The government also sets up programs like family first to help people in need. Even in high school a person needs four years of gym. Peter Drucker touches this subject in his essay “The Age of Social Transformation” as he talks about a changing society. The government made the decision that using the knowledge that Monsanto found was the right thing to do for the farming industry. The best times will come when the knowledge that people have is used to enhance their lives.

What good is knowledge if it is not used? There is no point in learning new things if the only reason for learning them is to prove a point or to know more than someone else. Knowledge should be used and the New Leaf is just a potato that has had knowledge applied to it. The potato helps farmers because they no longer have to bathe their fields in harmful chemicals.

Imagine living on a farm and someone offers a job that pays more, has fewer hours and is easier than farm work. Any person would leave, it just makes sense. This is the start of the industrial worker. In Peter F. Drucker’s essay “The Age of Social Transformation” he talks about the next social change, the move into the knowledge society. Unlike the move from farmer to industrial worker this move will be much more difficult. “The rise of the class succeeding industrial workers is not an opportunity for industrial workers. It is a challenge” (Drucker 253). Not everyone will be able to move into knowledge work the way people moved into industrial work. In Drucker’s new society the organization has a big role. It will not only be a person’s place of employment but were they can contribute to their community. “Playing God in the Garden” an essay by Michael Pollan is about “genetically engineered” (Pollan 459) potatoes that produce their own insecticide. This potato makes farmers jobs easier and safer “from where a typical American potato grower stands, the New Leaf looks very much like a godsend” (Pollan 468). Some people feel that it is wrong for these potatoes to be on the market and are angry that they are not labeled as being genetically engineered. Both essays “Playing God in the Garden” and “The Age of Social Transformation” are related because the potato in Pollan’s essay is a product of Drucker’s knowledge society. The company