Altruistic elements in the relationship between humans and rice
What does the relationship between humans and rice look like from the rice's perspective? Rice seems like a poor, unfortunate existence, existing only to be eaten by humans, but is that really true? For plants, expanding their habitat and increasing their species is their primary objective. So, compared to the wild species before human cultivation, has rice increased or decreased? It has expanded its habitat to the absolute maximum, beyond what it could possibly be. Through human selective breeding, it has reached even Hokkaido in the north, where it couldn't survive in the wild. It's originally a tropical species. Furthermore, rice has been planted everywhere possible—even on mountain slopes, creating terraced fields—and even reclaiming land from the sea and lakes, planting it wherever possible, spreading throughout Japan and the world. It could be said that rice has successfully used humans to expand its habitat to the maximum. A winner? In the plant world? Wheat is the ...