Viernes, 27 de marzo de 2026:
I watched the following short film in my Japanese-style room at night.
It was recorded on a USB-HDD (registration number 3) connected to a DIGA (2017 model). It aired on BS12 on February 7, 2026, at 9:20 PM.
SATURDAY SHORT THEATER "THE SEED OF TRUTH" (USA, 2024, 17 minutes long, original language: English, Japanese subtitles).
An excellent documentary-style film. The structure is superb.
The content was originally intended to be a three-hour epic, but it was condensed into 17 minutes.
America is esteemed worldwide, despite everything, because it can produce films like this.
It would be wonderful if a film like this were produced in Russia in Russian, and the Russian people could watch it…
Among the persecuted Soviet scientists, Dr. Sakharov is famous (physicist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate). He was detained by Soviet authorities and forcibly relocated to Nizhny Novgorod for criticizing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Perhaps he wasn't sent to Gulag because he was the Soviet "father of the hydrogen bomb" (even though he opposed nuclear testing).
Unlike Dr. Sakharov, the father of the protagonist (daughter) in the aforementioned film did not make any political statements or engage in any political activities. He simply refused to accept Lysenko's theories (Lysenkoism) based on basic genetic knowledge that was common knowledge even 100 years ago (currently at the level of a middle or high school science class).
He reasoned that if he had been opportunistic (like the Japanese saying, "It's better to be wrapped up in Long items！(go with the flow！)") and pandered to those in power, it could have caused serious damage to Soviet agriculture and caused suffering to many farmers.
Lysenko discovered the fact that "wheat seeds intended for autumn planting, moistened and refrigerated for the winter, and then planted in spring, become spring-planting seeds, increasing the yield."
He then made a leap from there, proposing the "theory" that traits acquired through environmental factors are inherited.
I don't know if this kind of logical leap is called "Dialectical Materialism."
However, since this was nearly 100 years ago, it's possible he had some preconceived notions.
Everyone knows that unconventional and groundbreaking ideas that go against the trends of the time can give rise to great inventions and theories.
The heliocentric theory is a typical example.
Darwin also couldn't openly propose the theory of evolution. This is because the idea that apes evolved into humans contradicted the core of the Christian worldview.
By the way, the Meiji government was also reluctant to accept the theory of evolution. Since Tennō (Japanese emperor) was considered a "Living God," the idea that "God evolved from Japanese Monkey" would have been a outrageous and damned problem！
The physical anthropological theory that humankind originated in Africa and that white and Mongoloids evolved from Black people is now scientifically proven and common knowledge taught in schools. However, at the time of its publication, it was rejected in the West (because the global scientific community was dominated by white people). Indeed, from a common-sense perspective, it's more believable to think that white people migrated to areas with strong sunlight, "tanned" themselves, induced genetic mutations, and passed these mutations on to their descendants, resulting in the birth of people of color.
However, the reality was the opposite.
Gardening TV programs and magazines often advise wrapping fruit seeds from fruits eaten at home or flower seeds from gardens in damp newspaper and refrigerating them for a while before planting to increase germination rates.
However, this doesn't mean the genes are actually mutating.
We should be more tolerant of the errors in scientific theories.
Lysenko's theory was compatible with communist ideology. To put it simply, this ideology was compatible with the idea that "people who endure and survive long, cold seasons will sprout large, healthy shoots in the spring and grow into fine individuals," and "regardless of birth (genetics), if one works diligently and earnestly within a good nation and society (environment), one can grow into a fine person and build a great nation."
The above ideology may not be bad as a life lesson. However, when applied to natural science, it becomes illogical.
The theory that "traits acquired through environmental factors mutate genes, and these mutated genes are inherited; in other words, the environment changes the original genes, making them more favorable, and these are then passed on to offspring" was a huge leap in logic.
Furthermore, the term "Lysenkoism" itself is problematic.
Lysenko's anti-genetic theories not only pleased those in power (Stalin) as an ideology that justified the Communist Party's dictatorship, but he also gained political power himself. He operated under the absolute authority of his absurd "theory" that Lysenkoism equals Stalinism, purging researchers who did not accept this "theory," sending them to concentration camps, killing them, or forcing them into labor.
On a different note, I think this happened more than 20 years ago.
I happened to be watching a news program at home when a special segment reported on strawberry farming in North Korea. A young North Korean woman was interviewed by a Japanese television reporter and said the following:
"Japanese strawberries aren't sweet at all. Our country's strawberries are very sweet. That's because we sprinkle a lot of white sugar around the base of the strawberry plants in the fields. The strawberry plants absorb the sugar, and the strawberries become sweet."
She said this with a straight face.
It sounds unbelievable, but it's true.
Since I happened to be watching the program, I don't remember the broadcast date, time, TV station, or program name. I am not even taking notes.
I was stunned, unable to laugh, and felt pity for her desperate attempt to "Mounting" Japan (she was probably appearing on television at the direction of the authorities and speaking according to their script...).
Her statements were full of inconsistencies, but the television program in question was a news program, not a comedy show. The woman seemed genuinely convinced, not joking.
How did you know what "Japanese strawberries" tasted like？
Where in North Korea, a country in isolation, did you buy Japanese strawberries？ Were they sold in supermarkets？
Japanese strawberries come from diverse regions and varieties; which strawberries did you eat, when, and in which region？ (She probably doesn't know that "Japanese strawberries" have varieties. Japanese fruit and vegetable breeding technology is constantly advancing, with a huge number of patent applications filed every year.)
Why don't they sprinkle refined sugar on fruit and vegetable seedlings other than strawberries in North Korean vegetable fields and orchards？ (Although strawberries are sold as fruit in the market, they are herbaceous plants and are classified as vegetables.)
Would sprinkling refined sugar on tomato, melon, or pumpkin seedlings increase their white sugar content？
Do other Rosaceae plants absorb refined sugar through their roots？ Or is it only strawberry seedlings that absorb sugar through their roots？
Why does the Dutch strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa
Duchesne ex Rozier. A horticultural variety (genetically hybridized) created in the Netherlands in the late 18th century. Almost all of the "strawberries" we see in supermarkets are Dutch strawberries.) absorb refined sugar through its roots (only in North Korea)？
Would sprinkling other sugars produce the same effect？
Would sprinkling honey, Jōshinko (rice starch), Katakuriko (potato starch), or cornstarch really make strawberries sweeter？
Why would they so readily reveal such an amazing "secret technique" to a Japanese television station？
They are determined to reject Japan, America, Western civilization (material civilization), mass consumer society, and capitalist economics as corrupt and decadent systems. This "rejection" is sublimated to an "ideology" that forms the basis of their nation's founding myth. They are consumed by jealousy and inferiority complex, especially towards their former colonial power, Japan, though perhaps not as severely as South Koreans.
This ideological background and psychological distortion have "sublimated" into "thought," resulting in the aforementioned mysteries technique to strawberry cultivation.
If there were a magical cultivation method where sprinkling white sugar on a field made vegetables and fruits sweeter, it would be a huge source of income for North Korea, so the North Korean government would surely treat it as top secret. There's no way a mere girl could casually discuss such a crucial "national secret" in an interview with a Japanese television station. If she carelessly spoke, she might end up in prison.
As is taught in elementary school science classes in any country, both animals and plants use carbohydrates as their energy source. Animals obtain carbohydrates by consuming food, while plants synthesize carbohydrates (glucose) through photosynthesis (Calvin cycle or Calvin–Benson–Bassham cycle).
While refined sugar is almost 100% pure carbohydrates, no plant on Earth absorbs carbohydrates through its roots. Only ants and slugs would benefit from it.
To increase the sugar content of fruit, it's necessary to prevent plants from depleting carbohydrates through fertilization. While chemical fertilizers and potting soil used in planters and flowerbeds contain nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and other micronutrients, they do not contain "refined sugar."
When individuals receive a specific ideological education under a specific political system, not only their scientific intelligence but also their common-sense thought processes become distorted.
