General Discussions

@Elite -> "more than half of all life on Earth was wiped out. Nothing humans could possibly do could come close to that."

two words: Thermonuclear War.

I don't think it's the planets fault at all, sure she might have some temper tantrums and shake the dust off herself every now and then but if your listening to her and paying attention you'll know when to find shelter and hold on for the ride. But blatant disrespect like we're showing her now is a poor course of action, sooner or later she'll get agitated and push back through natural disasters and other means of kicking natural selection into high gear. I get that the prominence of natural disasters shifts over time but it our fault we are speeding up that process. Like someone mentioned earlier though Mother Earth herself cares very little, she's been here for hundreds of millions of years and will likely be around for billions more, just with different constituents. We shouldn't be worrying about placing blame or faults though, only that what is done is done and what we can do to fix the situation so future generations can enjoy what we have.

...currently this is not happening due to human greed. And that saddens me.

Humanity is a product of its environment, and humanity has made damned sure to influence its environment to influence their progeny. Without certain social and technological advances, would we still be the same now? Would we really be the same humanity without developing uses for fossil fuels and petroleum byproducts? Would we still be the same humanity even if we never created the influenza vaccine, smallpox vaccine, blood transfusions, and organ transplants?

Even as we continue to do our part to rock the boat and destroy what little equilibrium there is in nature, to say blame can be assigned on an individual or even national/societal level is rather silly. Every individual is a product of their current culture, and every culture is the product of the individuals whom created and enabled their culture's power. We shouldn't feel guilty about what is going on now, that was set in motion by men whose bones have long been buried beneath us and whose names are largely forgotten in the flow of time. We need not feel guilty, but if individuals, groups, and even nations wish to make a change, then that is an admirable goal to aspire to.

Then there's the efforts of humanity to preserve species that, without our help, would die out completely in scant decades. Pandas, tigers, and other species we put in this position, and yet some of us continue to help these creatures survive despite the odds. One can choose to feel guilt for the state of things, but there's no need to feel any guilt because of the course long-dead men put their progeny, and by extension ourselves, upon.

Yes I for the most part agree. However the whole notion of equilibrium in nature would imply some kind of pre-determined optimum functionality which our arrival has some how altered. Despite being something profoundly different humans are just as much a part of nature as everything else. Just because something happens for the first time does not make it an anomaly. Intelligent life must be inherent in the world if it exists. Throughout history, billions of years of pass, then suddenly there is a major paradigm change. Single cell organism evolve into complex lifeforms. Fish grow legs. Certain species of primapes evolve a larger brain. This is no disturbance in nature this is just a part of it. Each change is more profound then the previous. Everything is changing all the time, our arrival is nothing different.