The Anomaly that is Man

[ShaMan]

I do think that we are more privileged than our ancestors or other animals...

I do not. I think it is our ego telling us we're privileged over others (including plants and animals), and that is why we've taken the Earth and made it our bitch. Mother will have the last say.

And, if we're going for sheer evolutionary privilege, then I'd say that bacteria has us beat trillions of times over (literally).