QUORA: Is the human race a plague?
by Preman Tilson, lives in Wellington, New Zealand
Answered April 8, 2017
Humans were part of a balance before we invented the
first technology, whether that is cutting tools or
control of fire. From that moment onward, we have been a
slowly growing cancer that has exploded over the past
couple of centuries. I think cancer is a better term
than plague. Or maybe vampires, since our basic sin is
that we have learned how to not die. All animals procreate
but then only a small number of offspring survive. We have
figured out how to circumvent that natural process.

There are no groups of people that I know of who don’t
affect the ecosystem in a way that is disproportionate to
other animals. There might be some individuals,, but our
numbers are now so huge that it’s simply impossible for
the Earth to sustain us even if we reverted to our original
lifestyle, without other creatures having to give way for us.

Just think, there are now over 7 billion of us. Is there
any other animal that numerous apart from insects or birds
or fish, or some very small creature? If the gorilla
population or the lion population increased to 7 billion
over the space of a century, would we think that was normal?

There is really no way of going back. Technology got us
into this mess, so it’s our responsibility to use technology
to get us out of it, by limiting our reproduction. The
problem is that growth is programmed into our psyche and
into our economic, religious and political systems. Nobody
wants to shrink, and there is pain involved in doing so
when everything is set up for growth. But time is running
out. We will eventually start shrinking on our own (it’s
already happening in the West) but it will likely be far
too late to stop the worst of the damage. Sure, give it a
few millions years and it won’t matter. But that seems
like small comfort to me, considering what will be lost.

"David P." wrote in message
news:ff2be581-d5ab-40e8-bbd5-81dd7a2ec676n@googlegroups.com...
>
> lives in Wellington, New Zealand

That's all I need to see...