Final exams are next week. I've been doing a lot of studying and homework to finish up my classes.

At the conclusion of my science textbook, I ran across this. I really enjoyed reading this, and I think it demonstrated a lot of my personal cross-thoughts I seem to have reguarding the issue.

I'd love your opinions and discussions regarding this.

I typed out (copied) this directly from: Biology: Life on Earth 8th Edition by Audesirk, Audesirk & Byers.



Are Humans a Biological Success?

Physically, human beings are fairly unimpressive biological specimens. For such large animals, we are not very strong or very fast, and we lack natural weapons such as fangs or claws. It is the human brain, with its tremendously developed cerebral cortex, that truly sets us apart from other animals. Our brains give rise to our minds, which, in bursts of solitary brilliance and in the collective pursuit of common goals, have created wonders. No other animal could sculpt the graceful columns of the Parthenon, much less reflect on the beauty of this ancient Greek temple. We alone can eradicate smallpox and polio, domesticate other lifeforms, penetrate space with rockets, and fly to the stars in our imaginations.

And yet, are we, as it appears at first glance, the most successful of all living things? The duration of human existence is a mere instant in the 3.5-billion-year span of life on Earth. But during the last 300 years, the human population has increased from 0.5 billion to 6 billion and now grows by 1 million people every 4 days. Is this a measure of our success? In expanding our range over the globe, we have driven at least 300 other species to extinction. Within your lifetime, the rapid destruction of tropical rain forests and other diverse habitats may wipe out millions of species of plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates, most of which we will never know. Many of our activities have altered the environment in ways that are hostile to life, including our own. Acid from power plants and automobiles rains down on the land, threatening our forests and lakes - and eroding the marble of the Parthenon. Deserts spread as land is stripped by overgrazing and the demand for firefood. Our aggressive tendencies, spurred by pressures of expanding wants and needs, their scope magnified by our technological prowess, have given us the capacity to destroy ourselves and most other life-forms as well.

The human mind is the source of our most pressing problems - and our greatest hope for solving them. Will we devote our mental powers to reducing our impact, controlling our numbers, and preserving the ecosystems that sustain us and other life? Are we a phenomenal biological sucess - or a brilliant catastrophe? Perhaps the next few centuries will tell.



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I loved this article because it summarizes what I what I have to say about it so well.

My personal thoughts on this matter are this:

I think we, as humans, live the best we can.
-If that means being an ass to everyone, even if it is a small, temporary existance of happiness that comes from being an ass to others is there - that is the best that someone knows how to live.
-If that means cheating on your significant other for your (perhaps tempoary) hapiness that it brings - that is the best that someone knows how to live.
-If that means being nice to others, perhaps at the expensive of being taken advantage of - that is the best that someone knows how to live.
The list goes on and on. A person doesn't have to be malicious, or stupid, or any of those things (although they certainly may affect those types of decisions) for these types of decisions to happen and take over their lives - the need for love/happiness is something we go far at any expense, seemingly.
Of course, religion affects these thoughts as well... but I won't get into it.

In terms of the enviornment, I think money gets in the way.
A good example is what is going on with the oil now. Although we can, and certainly have the technology to switch from oil powered cars to x powered cars, we don't. Because the leaders of these companies (perhaps involved in complexity with other companys, indivisuals, investors, etc) do not want to be out of a "job". Temporarily, even if it is at the expensive of the planet as a whole, they are making a lot of money and living a great life that no one can interfere with. Would YOU change the way your make your money, if you were making THAT much money, as a head of any oil company? Think about it.

It is unfortunate to the envrionment, us, and our children that it happens... but it does.

Which begs the question that the book asked...
Are we a phenomenal biological success or a brilliant catastrophe?

Tags: Humans Biology Biological Success Leiluna

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