While centralised food production and distribution certainly did not work in the Soviet Union, we are seeing the other extreme occurring now - the consolidation of the ownership of food in the hands of a few mega-corporations - such as Monsanto, Cargill, ADM. This ownership extends from the seed to the store and ensures that starvation will continue and that food security and food cultures, and communities will always come second to private profits. The energy intensive (read wasteful) nature of food production means that current practices simply cannot continue. There are certainly alternative to command and control systems of food production - regardless of whether it is large government or large corporations doing the commanding.

IMHO many of the resented argument have merit but share common flaws.
Yabby is undoubtedly right IF one subscribes to his underlying set of fatalistic and or deterministic assumptions.
1.Human nature is fixed, static, immutable. This ignores all the scientific proof that exists giving credence to the effects of 'other factors'
2.Human nature even if the above is true that this mandates one possible manifestation. This ignores the impact of several other instincts and 'enlightened self interest' or 'self interested altruism'.
3.While he concluded that there's nothing we can do .

The same sentiments/reasoning were echoed in the futility/folly of try to instil morals ethics beyond those of human ones (human nature).

I would argue that change is inevitable as time and vise versa i.e. all things are evolutionary including human nature, culture as are is the holy trinity of conservative (non political context) thinking, our sense of values (what constitutes self interest) , expedience
(aka efficiency) and god its self 'economics'.

The other perception is equally flawed in that Corporations are demonised and seen as the primary reason for our tortured state.

This is only partly and superficially true.

I say this on two grounds the first is that Corporations of any size are tools of PEOPLE,

The other is the nature of the beast's unlimited and therefore flawed genetic blue print.

Like all organisations without a preset limitation on short term longevity and size , their primary aim changes from the purpose of their creation (to provide capital, further a specific ) to one of its own longevity and growth In so doing the need for it to produce profit regardless of any inherent moral constraints. Rather the moral emphasis becomes right is anything that doesn't get caught.

In the final analysis humanity does become the captive of the corporation rather than it's beneficiary either as a servant or a hapless consumer. However the fault is in the design not the tool per se.

What is needed is lateral thinking of how to control/adapt to the looming change

Crikey! You've got a strange obsession with other peoples' sex lives there, yabby. You and KAEP ought to get together!

If you're inferring that I'm some sort of religious procreation crank, I can only assume you haven't read any of my posts about religion. Suffice it to say that I'll be whooping it up in Hell with Dawkins and Hitchens if the Believers are somehow right.

I'm all for giving people reproductive choice, especially that tried-and-true recipe for lowering birthrates: giving women access to education and economic liberation.

*Crikey! You've got a strange obsession with other peoples' sex lives there, yabby*

Not so Clowny, your sexlife is simply another part of biology.

Fact is that if you do your homework, hundreds of millions of women
don't use contraception because its not available or they can't
afford it. Things are a little different in the third world, then
in your city.

Its fairly pointess sending boatloads of food to the third world,
without adressing family planning, or as Bob Geldorf found out,
next time you simply have twice as many to feed.

"Of course they would not educate us about a scientist who wouldn't think of unethically using science as a scam to undermine the free market."

Yeah. The free market needs help to undermine itself.