jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Has the human race had enough time on earth? Should we be eliminated and let something else see if it can do better? Looking at the history of humanity, we have been a total screw-up since Day One. No redeeming social value. We can't get along with ourselves, other animals, or the earth itself.

nospambob Loc: Edmond, Oklahoma

ta taa

andesbill

Each person puts their needs before those of the group, nation, planet.
Each group puts the wants of the group before those of other groups, the nation, the planet.
Each nation puts their political and economic needs before those of other nations and the planet.

I am 74 years old, the older I get, the more I need science to survive. As our species ages and grows in population, we require more science/tech intervention to survive. We ignore the damage to others as we grab all the resources we can to increase our footprint on the planet.
If you ask any individual to sacrifice for the whole, the answer you will get is “I have myself and a family to feed, you can’t ask this of me. Ask them.”
The wealthy who have what to give, will never give up their wealth or any part of it while alive without violence.

I know how much you love jazz. Perhaps you can try this folk song which says it all, sung by Judy Collins; Marat/Sade from the finest folk album ever made- In My Life

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Humans have conquered all other species (maybe not individually, but as a whole) by intelligence. Now we are developing robots and AI. While they are pretty far from replacing us, technology advances more rapidly than evolution*. The question then becomes something like "Will robots have the incentive to preserve their kind and the environment simultaneously"?


*Actually, insect evolution can proceed fairly rapidly. Potato beetles have evolved to resist pesticides very rapidly. Pesticides effective against the potato beetle have an effective lifetime of only a few years before pesticide resistance in the beetle makes the pesticide useless. The Spotted Wing Drosophila is a pest recently introduced to North America. From laying an egg to reproductive maturity is about 12 days, so there can be up to 20 generations per year (compared to human 20 years/generation).

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

You made my point.

andesbill

I was agreeing with you, merely filling out what you said. As a former teacher, I can’t refrain from doing that.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I understand.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I just caught this story in the Washington Post. A man was arrested for littering because he put flowers on his fiancee's grave. She was killed in a car crash shortly before they were to be married. The woman's father, the Reverend Tom Ford, of Auburn Alabama, filed charges against him, and he was arrested. The father didn't approve of him, and the couple "went through hoops" trying to please him. I guess they never did.

Now, before someone says, "Well, let's hear the other side of the story," don't bother.

“In the graveyard where my darling is, there are dozens of other planters and plants. This is crazy,” he said choking up. “I just want to be able to put that flower box on my fiancee’s grave.”

Bob Smith Loc: Banjarmasin

Afraid I have to agree with you. Even now the Russians who lost millions in the second world war and during the Stalin purges are looking to start again. Just goes to show that what we learn from the past is we don't learn from the past. Time to let the cockroaches take over.

ClarkJohnson Loc: Fort Myers, FL and Cohasset, MA

Good morning to you, too!

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Why elimination? We seem to be following a quite successful suicidal path. Might take a little longer, but I'm sure we'll manage it.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

It's taking too long. : )

cdayton

An interesting question to ponder (for me) is: what other species, plant or animal, is better off because humans exist (evolved)? Please exclude varieties we have produced like domestic dogs and cats. We could be considered an invasive species.

srron Loc: Courtice,On.

This what the elite of the world would like to do, reduce the human population by 50% in order to gain power, not out of any environmental concern, of course.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

And some thought that maybe COVID would prune out the population significantly, but apparently not.

Back in the dark ages of the 1960's and '70's, there was an international movement called "ZPG" - Zero Population Growth. It encouraged all couples to have no more than two children. That never gained traction, due to religious organizations pushing non-stop babymaking, lack of social safety nets to support the elderly in much of the world (you have to have a bunch of kids so that some of them will survive and be willing to help you when you are older), the actual usefulness of children as workers (studies showed that children start providing net positive benefits for a poor third-world family by the time they are ten years old), and simple unwillingness to be bothered. "Appropriate technology", "Small is beautiful", and other books and catch-phrases were popular. The Earth's "carrying capacity" and the Malthusian Theory were popular topics of discussion. Everyone learned that the grain used to make the world's beer supply or the world's Big Mac supply could be used to feed the entire world's hungry.

We continue to have massive overproduction of baby humans without care. The world's fish stocks are dwindling. Massive amounts of fossil fuels are used to grow food, harvest food, catch seafood, process food, and move it around the world to those who can afford to eat it. Last week a study was published showing that it takes land equal to twice the size of New Jersey just to grow feed for Tyson Corporations pigs and chickens.

I think people who cared just eventually got burnt out and stopped caring - stopped thinking there was anything that could be done. I feel sorry for my kids. No idea what kind of chaos they will see in their lifetimes.