Charles C. Mann Quote
To a biologist like Margulis, who spent her career arguing that humans are simply part of evolution’s handiwork, the answer should be clear. All life is similar at base, she and others say. All species seek to make more of themselves—that is their goal. By multiplying until we reach our maximum possible numbers, we are following the laws of biology, even as we take out much of the planet. Eventually, in accordance with those same laws, the human enterprise will wipe itself out. Shouting from the edge of the petri dish, Borlaug and Vogt might as well be trying to hold back the tide. From this standpoint, the answer to the question Are we doomed to destroy ourselves? is Yes. That we could be some sort of magical exception—it seems unscientific. Why should we be different? Is there any evidence that we are special?
To a biologist like Margulis, who spent her career arguing that humans are simply part of evolution’s handiwork, the answer should be clear. All life is similar at base, she and others say. All species seek to make more of themselves—that is their goal. By multiplying until we reach our maximum possible numbers, we are following the laws of biology, even as we take out much of the planet. Eventually, in accordance with those same laws, the human enterprise will wipe itself out. Shouting from the edge of the petri dish, Borlaug and Vogt might as well be trying to hold back the tide. From this standpoint, the answer to the question Are we doomed to destroy ourselves? is Yes. That we could be some sort of magical exception—it seems unscientific. Why should we be different? Is there any evidence that we are special?
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