Humankind: nature's retarded step-child?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately...

Does anybody else think that the advent and diaspora of the human race will ultimately prove to have been a mistake on the part of evolution? Think about it: before we came along, no species ever threatened the viability of every other species on not ony this, but every, planet. If we had never attained the talent of conscious thought, we'd never have built a nuclear weapon, and things like antimatter and 'strange' quarks would never wind up on earth, as they may well do if our scientists get too curious. There would be no genocide, no engineered plague or organized crime. Not so much as a single tree would ever have been felled before its time... allowing for the occasional beaver, of course.

When you think about it, the only species that has really reaped any benefit from the presence of mankind is.... well... mankind. We have survived and prospered because we have been able to circumvent, tame, or outwit nature, whereas the rest of Earth's creatures have gotten along by living in concordance with it.

Additionally, we seem to think that we have some manifest destiny to rule everything we see. Viewed over the course of centuries, it becomes clear that it has never occured to a civilization that maybe they'd got enough room already. If (for the sake of example) an eighth continent were to arise between America and Europe, I'm sure there would be a mad race, and, eventually, a war, to decide the ownership of the thing.

The Human Menace (can't you just see that on some article of propaganda?) reaches even beyond the Earth; we are already intimating threats to the rest of the galaxy. We've already gotten as far as the moon, and I'm sure we'll figure the rest out eventually, assuming we aren't all obliterated in a global orgy of nuclear hatred beforehand. Once we spread to other worlds, we will either terraform them or, as we have done to Earth, cover them in concrete and steel. Is this really what nature intended? Are we, humankind, a potentially fatal mistake on the part of natural selection?

Your thoughts, opinions, ideas, and flames are graciously welcomed

Well... at least mankinds behavior matches well with cancer.

But seriously, what is common in these forms of human culture which are/have been most devastating is concept of owning land and everything in it which then leads to using it all possible ways for personal profit... which is close to this free market capitalism where those who own lot use that just to get more without caring anything, for them workers are just pawns to waste if it increases personal profits, same applies to environment.

Many original people who live(d) in harmony with nature like Indians didn't have concept of someone owning land, for them land belonged evenly to everyone and it was just an area where they lived and made their living.


"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
-Douglas Adams

"All our lauded technological progress -- our very civilization - is like the axe in the hand of the pathological criminal."
-Albert Einstein

"Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards."
-Aldous Huxley

"We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins of fur and feather so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the devil in human form."
-William Ralph Inge

That's very true... unfortunately, we do seem to have gone a bit beyond any semblance of true peace with nature. Do you think we'll ever get back to the point where we look at owning land as silly?

The only reason I ask is this: we've already had a good thousand years' experience with the fact that an empire can only get so big before it collapses under its own weight, e.g. Rome, and yet we're still playing king-of-the-hill. Sure, we have better communications technology than they did, but it's all a question of scale.

I like the quotes you've posted, by the way; it was people like Douglas Adams and Albert Einstein that got me thinking this way to begin with.

We do behave more like a virus than anything else on earth. Hell we can't even match the organisation of an ant colony. Ants are not greedy and self centered like us... A virus, on the other hand is one of the most primitive form of life and yet we match it perfectly! Everyone for themselves, eat till you die or till there's nothing left... Sex, Food and rock n roll! I've always seen the human race as an error, but still we were made tough.

I often imagine that the human race was nothing more than something created by mother earth to get rid of it's poo! (Earth's poo being the Fossil Fuel). We appeared from nowhere, evolved to the point of today(wich is like 15 min for the earth time scale lol). Once we know how to use the poo, it won't take long before were done with it. Then when this is all gonna be over (No more oil...). Humanity will collapse, and nature will take over once more. And better creations, like the dinosaurs or something will eventually come back.

We the humans, if were remembered. They will have a hard time understanding our lifestyle and stuff. And if they do, they will be glad were gone. Cause, you can bet for sure! that there will be another great extinction. It happened multiples times and will happen again.


[edit on 10-1-2005 by Osiriss]

Ya, well remember that some of us aren't that at all. You're being very stereotypical.

First of all, kudos on the thread title. It made laugh

Second, well... life is screwed anyway. Eventually, the sun will expand and burn up the Earth. The only way to prevent this total destruction is an intelligent race that may one day be capable of transporting earth life off of the planet to somewhere else. So far, only humanity fits the bill.

Originally posted by Osiriss
We do behave more like a virus than anything else on earth. Hell we can't even match the organisation of an ant colony. Ants are not greedy and self centered like us... A virus, on the other hand is one of the most primitive form of life and yet we match it perfectly! Everyone for themselves, eat till you die or till there's nothing left... Sex, Food and rock n roll! I've always seen the human race as an error, but still we were made tough.

Funny you should say that.. for the disgust with which you reference virii is really misplaced from the standpoint of evolution and toughness... Virii are probably some of the oldest most hardy things on the planet.. not a bad set of traits to have.

One could argue that survival is predictated upon being dominant and selfish..

Not saying it justifies what we do, but if you want to get down to the biological level, it's not bad company to keep in terms of surviability.

Osiris

Originally posted by Odd
I've been thinking about this a lot lately... If [humans] had never attained the talent of conscious thought, we'd never have built a nuclear weapon... There would be no genocide, no engineered plague or organized crime. Not so much as a single tree would ever have been felled before its time... allowing for the occasional beaver, of course....

Not a single tree would fall before it dies naturally? Where do you get this idea? Lightning causes forest fires all the time, and earthquakes, floods, mudslides, tornadoes, and hurricanes uproot and kill trees on a regular basis. Also, many animals gut trees and use them for food or homes, and other animals shred them or chop them down.

Animals don't live in 'harmony' with nature either. Animals have and will commit genocide on each other without pause. Do you think any predatory species cares about maintaining a steady population of any prey species? Wolves don't care if rabbits go extinct, and alligators don't care if wildebeast go extinct. They'd just find something else to eat.

Finally, I understand the need to preserve the balance of the Earth's environment -- it aids our survival, after all -- but why would you object to terraforming the Moon, Venus, Mars, or any of Jupiter's moons? There is no environment to protect there! Only rocks and gases.

I want humanity to live in balance with nature on Earth (but not at the mercy of it!), but I hope that when the time comes that all the possibly habitable planets and moons in the solar system are terraformed for human use.