If I attempt to update one package on a new Anaconda setup, Conda is suggesting the removal of fifty percent of my current packages.

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This is a common issue with Conda that occurs when there are conflicting dependencies between packages. When you attempt to update one package, Conda may find that it needs to remove other packages in order to satisfy the new dependencies of the updated package.

To avoid this, you can try creating a new Conda environment specifically for the updated package and its dependencies, instead of updating the package in your current environment. You can do this with the following command:

conda create -n env_name package_name

Replace env_name with the desired name for your new environment, and package_name with the name of the package you want to update.

Once the new environment is created, activate it with the following command:

conda activate env_name

Now you can update the desired package without affecting packages in your other environments:

conda update package_name

If you still encounter issues with conflicting dependencies, you may need to manually uninstall some packages or use a dependency resolver tool like conda-forge to simplify the process.