Religion is Harmful to Society

[robvalue]

That is indeed an assumption I would challenge.

"The human race must continue! [At almost any cost]"

Now, we're really not in any danger of actually dying out (unless we do blow ourself up) but even if we were, why is this so important? I don't see that it matters. Sure, our infrastructure would be abandoned and this would cause a lot of short term problems for other life forms. But in the long run, who cares if we're gone? I don't, and I will kill everyone (metaphorically speaking, of course.)

We see ourselves as the pinnacle of evolution. But evolution has no goals, we're just another outcome. 99% of species that have ever lives have gone extinct, yet all we really care about is whether we go extinct.

Of course, evolution also explains the drive to keep your own race going. I'm not saying it's surprising. I'm just saying it's something I don't think people always critically analyse.

I can see the argument that "everything we've achieved will be lost!" But really, everything we've achieved is largely for our own benefit, so there won't be anyone there to miss it. A lot of the great charitable work that is done is attempts to repair damage done by humans.