Yes, we consume & change the environment for millennia on a scale and rate (especially rate!) that could be considered an infection as it is absolutely unsustainable, and it permanently changes environments.
We’ve ended great forests, drained entire bogs, even species millennia ago, under all systems so far.
We never had the mentality of ‘don’t leave a mark’ and and always had the concept of ‘trash’.
We’ve also never had a predator to keep us in check, in fact it is only other humans that keep our numbers in check.
The quantity of humans alone is bound to require so much natural resources that we have a global impact regardless of how we use the current tech we would use (this means enormous areas and natural species subjugated to sustain our needs).
And the same argument about quantity also marks the unmistakable sign of an (unsustainable) infestation - that usually leads to the death of the host.
We needed some 4 million years to get to a billion, and only two centuries to get from a billon to 9 billion.
Infections do not have have the ability to choose to not damage their host. People do have that choice, and many make it.
You are, I think, making a mistake that many people do, in thinking humans should have zero impact on the environment. This is nonsense. Does any other animal have zero impact on the environment? Beavers and wild boars can change entire watersheds! An ecologically aware future is not one where humanity has disappeared, merely one where we have consciously limited our effects on it. Ask a virus to do that.
I find it difficult to disagree with your points for the most part, although I feel many are not entirely accurate, but your main point remains. So my next question is, isn’t what we’re doing as a species more or less natural? That’s not an excuse for what we’re doing, but calling humanity an infection has too many negative connotations that are unfair. All animals behave this way, boom and bust cycles occur everywhere without human intervention. We’re just the first to know what’s happening.
Anyway, what’s the solution if there is simply an infestation? I think that meme was made for you.
While i agree with you overall, i’d like to point out a few things.
First of all, “growth” is not a purely human concept. If you believe in the theory of evolution (which I advise you to do), all life strives for (evolutionary) growth sooner or later. That is why saying “humans are exceptionally bad because they spread like crazy” is in itself a false thought - all life does that.
The question is: Is humanity’s rule over the planet justified? In other words, do we have a large enough advantage to all life on Earth that we can reasonably occupy almost all inhabitable land area? What is the advantage that we bring to life?
As i said earlier, all lives ultimately strives towards evolutionary growth. Humans can aid that cause by making life multiplanetary. Don’t get me wrong, i’m not at all a Musk fanboy. But i believe in this single point: Similar to how birds can carry plants seeds to far-away islands, humans can carry all life to other planets and provide it with an essential opportunity for growth. That is why i see it as “humanity has also some very big advantages to life on Earth in general” besides “humanity causes the largest mass-extinction in a long time”. Both are true.
Lol, never said anything to the contrary, my dear friend!
Everything what I compared humans to has a precedence in the wild (we arent that unique), which ended in a catastrophe of sorts (and a rebound an eon later).
Are you suggesting infestation can be a non-life phenomenon? I am def intrigued! (Even in sci-fo terms!)
Ofc it’s part of the natural selection!
The question is: Is humanity’s rule over the planet justified? In other words, do we have a large enough advantage to all life on Earth that we can reasonably occupy almost all inhabitable land area? What is the advantage that we bring to life?
As said, an infestation, I never argued if justified or not (whatever even means to be “justified” to lower biodiversity like humans do).
However we are in the midst of a mass eviction event.
Similar to how birds can carry plants seeds to far-away islands, humans can carry all life to other planets and provide it with an essential opportunity for growth.
Yes, exactly, and this can also be an infestation when the “invasive species” (human term) spreads and kills the existing local species bcs the ecosystem isn’t balanced. This usually lowers biodiversity.
Like rats killed entire species when were introduced to New Zealand and similar secluded islands.
Yes, we consume & change the environment for millennia on a scale and rate (especially rate!) that could be considered an infection as it is absolutely unsustainable, and it permanently changes environments.
We’ve ended great forests, drained entire bogs, even species millennia ago, under all systems so far.
We never had the mentality of ‘don’t leave a mark’ and and always had the concept of ‘trash’.
We’ve also never had a predator to keep us in check, in fact it is only other humans that keep our numbers in check.
The quantity of humans alone is bound to require so much natural resources that we have a global impact regardless of how we use the current tech we would use (this means enormous areas and natural species subjugated to sustain our needs).
And the same argument about quantity also marks the unmistakable sign of an (unsustainable) infestation - that usually leads to the death of the host.
We needed some 4 million years to get to a billion, and only two centuries to get from a billon to 9 billion.
Infections do not have have the ability to choose to not damage their host. People do have that choice, and many make it.
You are, I think, making a mistake that many people do, in thinking humans should have zero impact on the environment. This is nonsense. Does any other animal have zero impact on the environment? Beavers and wild boars can change entire watersheds! An ecologically aware future is not one where humanity has disappeared, merely one where we have consciously limited our effects on it. Ask a virus to do that.
I find it difficult to disagree with your points for the most part, although I feel many are not entirely accurate, but your main point remains. So my next question is, isn’t what we’re doing as a species more or less natural? That’s not an excuse for what we’re doing, but calling humanity an infection has too many negative connotations that are unfair. All animals behave this way, boom and bust cycles occur everywhere without human intervention. We’re just the first to know what’s happening.
Anyway, what’s the solution if there is simply an infestation? I think that meme was made for you.
While i agree with you overall, i’d like to point out a few things.
First of all, “growth” is not a purely human concept. If you believe in the theory of evolution (which I advise you to do), all life strives for (evolutionary) growth sooner or later. That is why saying “humans are exceptionally bad because they spread like crazy” is in itself a false thought - all life does that.
The question is: Is humanity’s rule over the planet justified? In other words, do we have a large enough advantage to all life on Earth that we can reasonably occupy almost all inhabitable land area? What is the advantage that we bring to life?
As i said earlier, all lives ultimately strives towards evolutionary growth. Humans can aid that cause by making life multiplanetary. Don’t get me wrong, i’m not at all a Musk fanboy. But i believe in this single point: Similar to how birds can carry plants seeds to far-away islands, humans can carry all life to other planets and provide it with an essential opportunity for growth. That is why i see it as “humanity has also some very big advantages to life on Earth in general” besides “humanity causes the largest mass-extinction in a long time”. Both are true.
Lol, never said anything to the contrary, my dear friend!
Everything what I compared humans to has a precedence in the wild (we arent that unique), which ended in a catastrophe of sorts (and a rebound an eon later).
Are you suggesting infestation can be a non-life phenomenon? I am def intrigued! (Even in sci-fo terms!)
Ofc it’s part of the natural selection!
As said, an infestation, I never argued if justified or not (whatever even means to be “justified” to lower biodiversity like humans do).
However we are in the midst of a mass eviction event.
Yes, exactly, and this can also be an infestation when the “invasive species” (human term) spreads and kills the existing local species bcs the ecosystem isn’t balanced. This usually lowers biodiversity.
Like rats killed entire species when were introduced to New Zealand and similar secluded islands.