I also often think about this. "Animism" was a super efficient way to program a culture for respect towards nature. From that perspective it's a shame that it's

I also often think about this. "Animism" was a super efficient way to program a culture for respect towards nature. From that perspective it's a shame that it's gone. I'm hopeful that with all this research, we're sort of traversing a longer cultural arc that terminates at the same "symptoms" of animism (respect for nature, good stewardship of natural resources, following the precautionary principle). Those symptoms would now be supported by different load-bearing pillars, called "Environmental Science" and "Biology". I don't think we can go "back", but I think we can go "forwards" and still end up in a good (albeit, ironically, more or less the same) spot, where capital-S Science basically endorses most native land management practices. We've already made pretty good progress in the last generation or two.