Humans are not the only animals which have destr4uctive compulsions. Young
elephants like to test their strength by knocking down trees -- they don't
do anything with them, they just destroy for the pleasure of it. Quite a
strange sight to see! I suspect that there are other animals which act in
ways that have no obvious benefit but which meet destructive psychological
needs.
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne Tyson" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: quarta-feira, 12 de Maio de 2010 21:00
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Ecology Terminology and associated phenomena
Colonizing species etc
Humans were part of Nature, before they developed a kind of
psychopathology (something like obsessive-compulsive disorder?) in which
their focus shifted from survival to acquisition far beyond survival--even
to the truly insane state where the very tools they invented to survive
are now the major threats to their survival and that of many other
organisms. That, I suspect, is the crucial "tipping point" where Nature
and Culture came into opposition. Among the consequences of that trend,
unique among organisms, lie the phenomena of "invasive" organisms--in
varying degrees of intensity of effect, but nonetheless different.
Humans are, of course, still "part of Nature," only less so as a result of
the advent of culture and civilization.
