On Wed, 20 Dec 2000 15:42:02 -0600 Nature Leseul <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
> Are you claiming that Io and Mars aren't every bit as beautiful as
> the
> Earth?
nope, just that they are lifeless. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
though, so if I think IO is ugly, thats my opinion and I'm entitled to
it. If you disagree, fine, thats your opinion and your entitled to it.
> Isn't it the ultimate delusion of grandeur to claim that a
> creature as
> transient as man has the power to destroy something as eternal as
> the
> Earth? Man is not God. Anything he does which might have the
> potential
> to threaten the life of the Earth will destroy him long before it
> comes
> even close to becoming a real threat to her.
>
Hello?!!! The Eearth is just as transient as any of it's life forms.
This ball of water and dirt could easily be reduced to a big huge cinder
upon wich no life form can possibly live due to lack of ANY of the
elements required for life. Every sun, every planet, every MOON in the
universe is a transient body floating around just waiting for something
to colide with it and split it into thousands of pieces too small for
anything to survive on it. We have mastered the power of the Atom which
is capable of reducing ANYTHING to complete and total waste unusable by
any life form for millions of years. We have the power to totaly destroy
our planet, and I'm not just talking about the delicate ecosystems or the
many life forms on it, I'm talking about the PLANET!! We could split
this thing into billions of tiny pieces that then hurdle around in
earth's normal orbit without the capacity to support complex life forms
of any kind.
At any moment a huge meteor could hurtle straight at earth, destroying
all life on earth larger than a bacteria before spliting the thing into
thousands of smaller pieces that are incapable of supporting an
atmosphere or water or any complex life forms.
If nature does it, then so be it, such are the consequenses of living in
the natural world. But if WE do it, thats another matter entirely. We
have been seperating ourselves from the natural world because we don't
want the natural course of things to happen anymore. We would rather
rise above the mortality of nature and become immortal gods in the
universe. Or would you rather abandon all technology and knowledge and
live like a common ape in the wild?!
Don't you think that power must come with responsibility? With every
ability or right you have you must also have a responsibility to do the
right thing, in my opninion. And if you do the wrong thing there must be
consequenses for your actions.
> No one is stupid enough to actively dump oil or carbon monoxide
> or
> radioactive waste at random. Notice how rapidly corporations clean
Uh, hello, yeah there are a LOT of stupid people who ACTIVELY dump oil
and carbon monoxide and radioactive waste at random. Oh I noticed how
well corporations take care of our environment. Yeah, they do a great
job, NOT!!!
> up
> their oil spills and the lengths they go to to keep their chemical
> and
> nuclear waste products safely disposed of. After all, they have a
> vested
> interest in the future of the planet too. More than us, in fact,
> since
> they also have to worry about the short-term resale value of their
> property. Government doesn't, since the politicans who allow
Why would they worry about the resale value of their property when they
aren't dumping their crap ON THEIR PROPERTY?!!! Hello?!!!
> pollution
> to occur on government lands will be out of office and gone by the
> time
> the pollution starts becoming visibly harmful.
That is true, the governement is full of corrupt men who use thier power
to get more money for themselves. GRRR!!!!
> Sure we do. The ecosystem is a single web, and everything affects
> everything else. If we're going to exist as a species, some other
> species are going to have to die out. That's the way it's always
> been.
>
Other species should only die as a result of our actions if our actions
are purely for survival, THAT is nature takeing it's course. But when
our actions are NOT purely for survival and cause the extinctions of
species, then that is WRONG!! This is my opinion and I will NOT be
swayed.
> Back when evolution perfected the process of photosynthesis,
> there
> were mass extinctions among the existing lifeforms to which oxygen
> was a
> deadly poison. But new organisms which could survive the oxygen and
But those plant life forms evolved and caused the extinctions out of pure
survival. They weren't sentient beings to thought that the non-oxygen
breathers were pests and decided to make them extinct. That is something
that WE have done. There is a BIG difference between nature takeing it's
course through the struggle for survival and OUR Arrogant and Stupid
wastefull and destructive activities.
> use
> it as an integral part of their biological processes emerged soon
> enough, and the Earth went on. It'll be the same if our activities
> manage to alter the atmosphere or climate. Some species'll die, a
> few
> new ones'll be born, and the Earth will go on.
The earth is not merely the forms of life that live here, earth will
continue to exist no matter how many life forms go extinct, I agree with
you on that point. But causing the extinction of life forms merely for
greed or selfish pleasure or convenience is NOT the natural way of things
and is WRONG.
> Everything we do is part of the ecosystem. Even our technology
> and
> modification of our environment. Refusing to utilize our technology
> for
> our own advancement as a species would be contrary to evolution's
> plan
> for us. You don't see beavers refusing to build dams for fear of
> disrupting the migration patterns of fish, do you?
Evolution has no plan for us or any other life form. Evolution cares
about ONE thing only, and that is the continuation of life itself. It
doesn't care which species live or die, it doesn't care which individuals
live or die, and it doesn't care HOW a life form lives or dies.
Evolution is about change, evolution is Chaos!!!
Beavers are not sentient beings with the ability to survive without
causing the extinction or death of any other life form. Yes, they make
damns, in order to have a home and in order to have a supply of food that
is easier to get. This is smart, it is tool use, and perhaps one day
they will become sentient, but I don't think that they are sentient right
now. I think that sentient beings have a unique ability to rise above
Nature, to seperate itself from nature, and therefore has a unique
responsibility to be nature's guardian. That opinion will Never change.
>
> The best thing we can do is continue to live with the Earth as
> best we
> can and avoid changing anything that doesn't need to be changed. If
> it
> becomes necessary for another species to vanish to make room for us,
> we
> should mourn, but not halt our own progress because of it. We're
> part of
> the ecosystem, not outside it, and we have to live by its rules.
This I agree with you about. If it comes to the difference between OUR
species survival and another species survival, then of COURSE I will
fight for our survival. But if you destroy a species simply because it
is in your way, or because you feel like it, then that is WRONG!!! This
opinion WILL NOT CHANGE!!
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