[cobookman]

Would we even have food shortages if all pollinators died out? Couldn't we automate artificial pollination?

Such machines already exist: https://www.fastcompany.com/90463417/in-our-dystopian-future...

[omosubi]

Let's not run that experiment

[prawn]

I toured a very advanced tomato-growing facility last year where people roamed the rows with battery-powered blowers to aid in pollination. Pest-control was in-part handled by strategically released wasps. The entire facility was powered/heated/cooled by a heliostatic field.

At a smaller scale, my parents were pollinating the tomatoes in their car-sized home greenhouse using an electric toothbrush!

[pvaldes]

You can automate artificial pollination, Japanese do it routinely. Is just that then you need to pay Japanese prices for your pears.