[hermitcrab]

Hard to read this article and feel proud to be a human.

A world without wilderness and wild animal will be an impoverished one indeed.

"The total weight of Earth’s wild land mammals – from elephants to bisons and from deer to tigers – is now less than 10% of the combined tonnage of men, women and children living on the planet." https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/18/a-wake-u...

However the bison numbers have recovered somewhat. Great whale populations are increasing. Maybe there is some hope for us yet.

[aeternum]

You have to feel somewhat proud to have achieved such extreme evolutionary success. Only recently have we expanded to other meta goals like conservation.

By the measure that we apply to nearly every other species on earth, humans win.

[hermitcrab]

A world with just humans, their pets, their cattle and a few hardy 'pests' won't feel much like a victory.

[hulitu]

We have also the metaverse. Just like for us the vegetables came from supermarkets (and not from peasants), the reality will come from the metaverse.

[jebarker]

> By the measure that we apply to nearly every other species on earth, humans win.

I don't understand - what measure?

[hermitcrab]

Evolution is about competition. So I guess if your species destroys every other species then you have 'won' in some sense. But only in the same sense that you have 'won' a nuclear war if your counties is the only one in the world with any survivors.

[SturgeonsLaw]

Kickin' the most ass

[ab5tract]

Sorry, but that’s nonsense. There were millions of humans living side by side with these bison before both were genocided.

Equating “civilization” with “humanity” or “human nature” is a false equivalence.

[ikekkdcjkfke]

Depends if you wanna figure out the mysteries of the universe or live in subsistence, either are fine by me

[hulitu]

> By the measure that we apply to nearly every other species on earth, humans win.

The rats in New York would like to have a word with you. /s

[mcmoor]

For how much I obviously hated them, sometimes I feel proud for human pests. Be it locusts, rats, mosquitoes, cockroaches, ants, etc. They declare war on the mightiest species on the planet and are still winning! I remember seeing that humans are only the 2nd most prolific human killers (1st is mosquitoes) and was surprised! Compared to other animals on earth, they are certainly the champions of evolution.

[aeternum]

True, but to be fair if it were mosquitos alone, they would be little more than an annoyance. They're only deadly because they've teamed up with a host of other microorganisms like the Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya viruses.

[hulitu]

There was a documentary about mosquitos where a guy from the Australian Army said, that sleeping a night, with a lot of mosquitos -without protection- , could be your last night.

[hulitu]

> I remember seeing that humans are only the 2nd most prolific human killers

We are working very hard on this issue. /s

[cryptonector]

American governments -Federal and State- in the 19th century developed eugenics laws and genocidal policies against natives, to say nothing of horrible policies against blacks. Some of those served as inspiration to the Nazis. Horrible.