
Is the Modern Mass Extinction Overrated? - sus_007
http://nautil.us/issue/53/monsters/is-the-modern-mass-extinction-overrated
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RingwormOne
Great interview and a fresh perspective.

Life, as in the totality of species on Earth, is incredibly resilient. As much
as we impact the environment, as long as the Earth remains hospitable to us it
will remain hospitable to a huge number of other species. That's enough for
me. I don't worry about a few individual species that grab headlines, I worry
about the long term viability of Earth to host life, and the long term
viability of humanity.

I don't accept equivocation about humanity's place on Earth. We are the
pinnacle of evolution on this planet, because we build. We build glorious
physical and theoretical structures orders of magnitude greater in complexity
and power than anything else.

Before us life was defined by endless struggle, individuals doing the same
thing their ancestors did until their species were either wiped out or evolved
into other forms that would carry on doing the same thing for millennia. They
understood nothing of the world. They were powerless in the face of nature.

But then humanity comes along, and we take control of our own destiny instead
of being caught under the heel of the uncaring natural world. We shape our own
behavior. We define our own goals. We rocket off this planet into space.

We are Gods, and our ascension only continues.

So I don't waste too much existential anxiety on the fate polar bear.

