"We started selectively breeding crops when we started eating plants"

I'm going to disagree with this. There is a huge difference (in terms of time scale) between co-evolution and agriculture/selective breeding.

Your post was interesting, but I think there is an important point lurking in your sentence "The selective breeding that was used throughout most of human history introduces changes relatively slowly".

Here "slowly" is the critical word. Human history is very long compared to the modern era (20,000 years versus 200) but not so long on an evolutionary time scale. We are omnivores and "supposed" to eat a wide range of foods. According to Jared Diamond's "Guns, germs and steel" the advent of agriculture caused a _decline_ in average height and life expectancy which we have only recently recovered from.

It is very hard to decide what a "good" diet is -- it really depends on what "good" means to you. In particular, a food (say, bread) with a 20,000 year history should not get a free pass. A food with a 20 year history (say, twinkes) should be viewed with extreme suspicion.

If you haven't read them already, let me recommend to you Michael Pollen's earlier books, especially "The Botany of Desire".

Oh, yes they do. I work at a university in the UK. I would estimate that at least 1/7 of essays (essays, not homework) given to me by students are substantially plagiarized.

I am also an academic (in mathematics). Aside from the first three or four journal articles I wrote, out of currently about 25, all the rest are in the public domain. After I explain this to the copy editor, and rewrite their copyright agreement, I usually don't have a problem. Every once and I while I have to push a bit to get my way. Only once did a journal refuse to understand (Comm Helv) and they insisted that I either

a) give them the copyright

b) retain it for myself or

c) withdraw the paper.

I chose b, with a bit of a sigh.

I second this -- I actually think that Metamagical Themas is much better than GEB.