[cortesoft]

I feel like we aren't actually unique in this respect, except in the sense that we are able to see our own doom but still not able to act on it.

In essence, our extinction (if it were to happen) would be because we were unable to solve the collective action problem... each individual choosing their own best course dooms the entire species.

When looked at it this way, lots of species go extinct for this reason; resource exhaustion due to uncapped expansion.

The difference is that we don't expect animals to be able to reason through the situation and realize that individuals would need to sacrifice for the greater good of the species.

[FpUser]

>"...individuals would need to sacrifice for the greater good of the species."

This old song. I am all for a sacrifice... As long as it starts from the top. Wake me up when that happens.

[cortesoft]

I am not disagreeing with this statement, and don't think we can solve the collective action problem by just choosing as individuals to sacrifice (that is what makes is a collective action problem). It would take societal change to happen.