Libb

Certainly, and I did not delete my account either ;)

recurring topics. My answer won’t change:

• More quality content/comments. People will go where they find what they’re looking for. No matter teh sad show reddit has turned into it is still filled with quality content (even more so in ‘niche’ communities).
• Less preaching. Does anyone really think that by telling people they’re doing it wrong or worse that they’re being dumb (because they’re using this or that) we will encourage them to change their habits?
• Less politics. My very first impression of Lemmy was almost enough to make delete my account. Politics, not the most subtle one, and memes were everywhere. Not really the type of content I was looking for (I’m fine discussing politics with anyone willing to discuss it provided we can go above the mere ‘you’re wrong because I don’t agree with you’ or the ‘you’re fascist if you don’t hate what I hate’ type of discussion).
  Everyone should be able to chose what they’re exposed to (including politics and memes, btw) but forcing them to taste it out of the box may not be the… most seducing default.

A well deserved +1 for a much more polite reaction than the one I had reading the title.

Thank you. It’s your ‘FFS’ that triggered the whole discussion ;)

The answer should also take into consideration the place of extraction/growth of the raw material (and the cost of getting it and storing it, using whatever tools are required), its shipping to the pencil manufacturing plant, how it should be handled and processed maybe. And a few other things like that but, yeah, I would not be surprised if plastic was not the best choice there was.

I would not have thought about asking AI myself because, well, I’m not much into using them. partly because, I don’t like the world their owners are trying to make a reality, partly because they consume so much energy.

This is an interesting consideration as, once again as a pencil (and a Bic pen, and fountain pen) user myself, I have always wondered what was worse between cutting trees (or reusing hemp, which is a also a plant) to make the casing, or reusing some sort of already wasted material instead of throwing it away.

I mean that very seriously as all techniques do require a lot of energy to get to the result they want to achieve. That energy is to me the real ecological issue: the one that is costing less energy should be favorited.

Personally, I much prefer wooden pencils there is not the hint of the beginning of a doubt about that (and I pay good money to buy quality ones) but I would change and get rid of my ‘preference’ in a heartbeat if there was data showing something else was a better choice energy-wise. Be it recycled plastic, or cannabis, or that really interesting & intriguing concept showcased in the OP.

FFS!

Am I expected to react positively or negatively? ;)

It looks quite clever. As a pencil user, I would gladly try a few of those if they were manufactured.

But this is not correct:

Pencils haven’t changed much in hundreds of years. They still come wrapped in wood with a graphite lead running along the center

For the casing, a lot pencils, most noticeably cheap ones, do not use wood for casing. It’s recycled plastic or some stuff like that. Here in France, I think Bic is recycling plastic to create the casing of their low cost pencils and colored pencils, while making it look somewhat like wood. I would say Staedtler does it too for its real entry level pencils but I’m not sure.

Like paper, pencil is one of those innovations that has reached maturity (to not say ‘perfection’) but it doesn’t mean there is not much research still going on. Exactly like with paper ;)