(March 4, 2016 at 8:11 am)Rhythm Wrote: Brian, we are earths apex species, there's simply nothing false in that claim. Other species are apex limited to their specific environments, we are not. We sit atop the whole bunch, happily munching away with no worries about being dinner ourselves. Maybe you should tone down the bitching about others when you've made yourself one of those others?
Quote:is a predator residing at the top of a upon which no other creatures prey.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apex_predator
CONTEXT, our ability to dominate other species is what you are talking about. I am talking about LONG TERM, AND our own ignorance in simply getting stuck on ONE aspect of a species attribute. Even in other life, if that "apex" in an ecosystem gets too dominate it can not only hurt other species but end up hurting itself.
It isn't JUST that we are smarter, so the fuck what, that still does not change in a cosmic event there are other species that are far more likely to survive a mass extinction. As smart as we are, we are still dependent on the planet for our food sources and materials.
You are promoting a lack of humility which is exactly what causes the dark side of our species to focus on greed at the cost of our social stability and even to the planet's stability. Just because we have bigger brains and a more complex language DOES NOT mean we use them right all the time and much of the problems humans have are a result of not understanding we are still dependent on other life and this planet for our survival.
YES we can dominate other life, and we can exploit it to the point where we end up hurting ourselves long term. There is a dark side to being that "apex" and that is why I hate that term.
Evolutionary biologists don't speak in terms of us being special or better, regardless of being an "apex". That is the same mistake theists use when talking about the word "theory" or "law".
It isn't enough to be smarter than other life, it also depends on how you make decisions and where those decisions lead, and you cannot tell me our species as a majority, even with all the progress we have made, is a majority of rational and pragmatic thinkers. We have Sunnis and Shiites and Christians and Jews still stuck on old books and murdering each other over it. You have assholes like the Koch brothers using their "brains", not to get our planet off of fossil fuels, but to continue damaging our planet. "Smart" does not mean shit if you use it to maintain divisive and destructive ideas.
SO "apex" is not important in the long term, we were not around 65 million years ago. And even today, our ability to dominate our environment HAS TO go with good management, which right now it is not, so even now "apex" is a fucking meaningless term to me.
The way evolutionary biologists put it is "A monkey is great at being a monkey. A shark is great at being a shark. A cockroach is great at being a cockroach. A human is great at being a human". But again, an invasive species that gets too dominate and exploitation it will damage the ecosystem it lives in even to the point of hurting itself. That is why "apex" is not the word to focus on.
