5 ms·
Humans have driven more than 1,400 bird species to extinction
- gnabgib 3y agoReferenced: "Undiscovered bird extinctions obscure the true magnitude of human-driven extinction waves" (Nature)[0] [0]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43445-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43445-2
- kamih 3y ago[flagged]
- 29athrowaway 3y agoWe are a force in the universe trying to reduce entropy by assimilating matter and structuring it. But ultimately life at large will be a failed experiment if the entire universe reaches a thermodynamic equilibrium where entropy is maximized.
- stana 3y agoWe are Borg.
- throwup238 3y agoWe learned by watching nature.
- AlecSchueler 3y agoIt's not an inevitable thing though, we could do so much better. The source of our behaviour doesn't have to dictate our control over ourselves.
- tracerbulletx 3y agoOur aesthetic and moral models in our brains define what we consider to be a "cancer" soo.. What does that even mean. I'm pro keeping the world beautiful and rich and fulfilling to human thriving, but I also feel as an objective part of life that if we all just die and a new cycle starts then it is what it is. Life just started making oxygen and killed almost every organism alive once so it's kind of just a thing that can happen I guess. We'll see if we're capable of stopping it from happening again.
- aaron695 3y ago[dead]
- 29athrowaway 3y agoWhen you explore the tree of life, one thing you will notice is that it has many extinct species. Consider terrestrial vertebrates for example... http://www.tolweb.org/Terrestrial_Vertebrates/14952 http://www.tolweb.org/Terrestrial_Vertebrates/14952
- SenAnder 3y agoBut remember - Malthusianism was debunked, and the planet can support many more people. As long as you never think about environmentalism and population size at the same time - the only way to hold two conflicting ideas at once. I wonder if there's a succinct term for it..
- tomcam 3y agoWonder what percentage is from cats
- pfannkuchen 3y agoI still don’t understand why species count matters. All organisms share the same basic genetic drive. Species go extinct when environmental niches shift too rapidly. But, as long as the niches stabilize eventually, they will be filled back in through natural processes and we will end up with new species. This does take a long time, but a reduction in species diversity is fundamentally not permanent.
- huytersd 3y agoThat’s a ridiculous perspective. We’re losing genetic marvels forever.
- pfannkuchen 3y agoNew ones will appear eventually. Though of course you and I won’t get to see them, because it will take a few hundred thousand years or more. If people are concerned about species extinction’s impact to humans, that is a defensible position. Most people seem to act like it isn’t about human enjoyment though, as if there is some intrinsic value to species count even if humans were out of the picture. The time it will take to re-diversify is the blink of an eye in geologic terms.
- huytersd 3y agoThere is inherent value to a large species count. Exaggerate the situation and say the only animals left in the world were dogs, cats and cows. Extrapolate that same sense of massive loss to this situation. If you don’t care then I guess there isn’t anything else to say to you but recognize that the loss of species diversity causes many people to feel an immense sense of loss, comparable to say large scale genocide of a human ethnic population.
- voltaireodactyl 3y agoSpeaking solely for myself, I’m bummed that I miss out on the diverse ecology of our forebears. I also imagine some are worried that — as development continues to cut down on wilderness of every category — perhaps those environments won’t be as conducive to new species forming as past, pre-civilization circumstances.
- iancmceachern 3y agoYet somehow chickens survive, despite our attempts to eat them all
- pests 3y agoForced breeding.
- iancmceachern 3y agoFrom what I understand about chickens you don't really have to force it. If anything, we do the opposite. Even if left wild they do quite well, see any Caribbean country or many Hawaiian islands.