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[JollyWolf]

Why would it not be? You don't think the earth and its surviving species would be better off without a species unnaturally filling its air, water, and ground with poison? Our trash, our carbon, and our chemicals? The nuclear waste byproducts that take thousands or millions of years to degrade? The species that die needlessly, not because they are in our food chain but rather they are in the way of our runoff? Not to mention the forests we destroy, the habitats we waste. I'm simply agreeing we are a plague. The species of earth would be better off without us. It's only a matter of time.

Everything you said is part of the natural order of things. You are stupidly thinking we are not part of nature. Everything we do is natural, if it was not, then we would not be able to do. It is the natural order for species to either adapt to the changing landscape or die off. That is how things have worked since life has existed.

I find that you are hypocritical in saying that we are meaningless to the grand scheme of things and yet put such importance to other equally meaningless things. The Earth and the Universe do not need animals are forests, just like you said, it will keep on going without those things.

 

[Blair]

Jesus fuck. Too many of you played Final Fantasy as a kid and built your outlook on life around a freaking video game, good lord.

 

[Lesath]

People that say stuff like this more often than not are more likely to point to other people when pointed out. "So, we should limit birth/save resources/etc etc."

"Humans are a plague!"

"Yeah, but you are human too."

"But I am special, I don't count! And don't take my privileges away!"

Humans are special because only we can create such wonderful straw men.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Do you think us as a species has a time limit where we need to find a way to populate the other planets in the solar system before the earth can no longer sustain us?

Definitely

As a species, we're too smart for our own good at the moment imo. We may be able to turn it around in time, but I doubt it. Not really humanity's fault though. Everything that every human has ever done has been a result of instinct or advanced thought. Its evolution's fault

 

[demosthenes]

:lol

 

[Reuenthal]

Earth has no feelings. And it will cause a massive catastrophe more massive than anything humans will do through supervolcanoes erupting.

 

[NullPointer]

look at those misanthropes, we're better than they are!

Mankind, as a species has a lot of work to do, but we're more than gifted with the intelligence and creativity to do so. We're still young. We'll break out of our tunnel vision and tribal mentalities. We have to.

Anybody who would write us off rather than trying to improve our condition isn't helping a damn thing.

 

[Tesseract]

its also a collection of positive affirmations between users that believe humanity to be significant and special.

look at those misanthropes, we're better than they are!
yeah! high five!

feels pretty good on this side of the fence. here's me enjoying euclid's elements:

 

[JollyWolf]

Earth has no feelings. And it will cause a massive catastrophe more massive than anything humans will do through supervolcanoes erupting.

As will asteroids and the sun swallowing it up.

Mankind, as a species has a lot of work to do, but we're more than gifted with the intelligence and creativity to do so. We're still young. We'll break out of our tunnel vision and tribal mentalities. We have to.

Anybody who would write us off rather than trying to improve our condition isn't helping a damn thing.

Yup, in fact I would say that they are the problem.

 

[Gannd]

its also a collection of positive affirmations between users that believe humanity to be significant and special.

look at those misanthropes, we're better than they are!
yeah! high five!

I feel sad for cynics like yourself. Humans have been to the heavens. We have put a man on the moon. Men have saved billions of people they don't know. We are special.

 

[teruterubozu]

feels pretty good on this side of the fence. here's me enjoying euclid's elements:

Masturbation is misanthropy, man. Stop wasting that sperm.

 

[neoism]

Do you think us as a species has a time limit where we need to find a way to populate the other planets in the solar system before the earth can no longer sustain us?

at this rate most likely.....1000+ years from now the earth will be a lot different...lol doubt we as human will even exist....in the same from of good living some of us have now... if at all.

 

[MattKeil]

Why would it not be? You don't think the earth and its surviving species would be better off without a species unnaturally filling its air, water, and ground with poison?

We are part of nature. What we build is no less natural than a beaver dam or a termite nest, it's simply a matter of scale and ability.

Humans are pretty damn far from the "worst thing ever to happen" to the Earth. The planet has been hit by asteroids that utterly ruined the planet's shit for thousands of years. It got better. Life persisted. At one point something happened that killed off 95% of life in the oceans. It got better. Life persisted. Genetic evidence indicates that something catastrophic happened to the human population a couple hundred thousand years ago and there may have been as few as a couple thousand homo sapiens left total. We persisted.

Life is incredibly difficult to wipe out entirely. It is adaptable and flexible, and most importantly it wants to live. What we do doesn't really matter to anyone but us. Species will come and go, environmental situations will change with or without us, and the planet will keep on spinning regardless. Does that mean we don't have a responsibility to act intelligently and in a low-impact manner regarding the planet and other forms of life on it? Absolutely not. But alarmist nonsense about how we're a plague or a virus or a bunch of monsters is not going to solve anything, and will only serve to further alienate people unsympathetic to the notions of conservation and environmental responsibility. The best way to convince people to respect nature is to make them realize that we are a part of it. Not above it, not removed from it, not inherently harmful to it. Part of it.

 

[EatChildren]

There is nothing more important than our own survival. Everything else is secondary. But the point Attenborough is making is that unchecked consumption of the Earth's resources and destruction of our ecosystem in a misguided extreme of survivability. Ensuring our survival requires more than rampant consumption and breeding. We're part of an ecosystem and we need to make sure we're not damaging that ecosystem or putting ourselves in a position we can no longer support. Looking out for the Earth is looking out for us.

Humans in all their arrogance have a tendency to swing to either side of the pendulum. We either vehemently believe our 'progress' and consumption should be unrestricted, as the Earth is there to serve us. Or we willingly endorse self destruction of our species under the deluded belief that an Earth we applied subjective measurements of worth to will be "better off", as if we have any authority on the matter.

It's about finding a position in the middle. Letting go of our ego about what needs to be conserved in regards to the environment and accepting we do need resources and we do need to consume, but also restraining our ego on how much we should be consuming and what freedoms our species really needs.

 

[Riddick]

Jesus fuck. Too many of you played Final Fantasy as a kid and built your outlook on life around a freaking video game, good lord.

I'm curious, what do you mean by that?

 

[Yagharek]

I feel sad for cynics like yourself. Humans have been to the heavens. We have put a man on the moon. Men have saved billions of people they don't know. We are special.

At the expense of how many species we have sent to extinction because of carelessness. In terms of life in general we have done more harm than good.

 

[Laughing Banana]

Humans are special because only we can create such wonderful straw men.

*Shrugs*

It's exactly the kind of attitude that I always see from people saying stuff like this.

If they think that humans are such a bother than, hey, they're human too, so they should probably start with themselves first then?

It is kind of funny to see this kind of attitude also in GAF.

"Humans are such a blight!"
*Goes back playing games*

 

[demosthenes]

at this rate most likely.....1000+ years from now the earth will be a lot different...lol doubt we as human will even exist....in the same from of good living some of us have now... if at all.

By the year 2200 the human population will be back under 3 billion. With advances in technology, humanity will be fine.

I'm curious, what do you mean by that?

The page was filled with "WOE IS ME HUMANITY IS A PLAGUE AND NEEDS TO DISAPPEAR"

Square seemed to use that a lot with some of their baddies. Or maybe I'm mixing general RPG baddies with all the FF games.

At the expense of how many species we have sent to extinction because of carelessness. In terms of life in general we have done more harm than good.

http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/how-species-actually-gone-extinct

Species that have died off > Species that could be directly linked to being killed off due to human action.

 

[Bad_Boy]

searched thread for joe rogan. disapoint!

 

[NullPointer]

Looking out for the Earth is looking out for us.

Preach it.

But I honestly don't think we'll truly grock that kind of perspective until we have some sizable communities off-world. Then, quite a lot will change.

 

[neoism]

amazing.....LULZ

 

[teruterubozu]

Our only purpose is to create a giant geological layer of plastic and steel, then we perish. What earth does with that layer in the future, nobody knows.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Takes a bitter cynical type to believe that.

 

[JollyWolf]

At the expense of how many species we have sent to extinction because of carelessness. In terms of life in general we have done more harm than good.

And? Other species do not matter. You exist for one reason, and that is for your survival as well as the survival of your own species. It is not our job to be the guardians of the world. Those other species were not able to adapt to the changing environment, so they died out. This has been the natural law for millions of years.

 

[A.E Suggs]

its also a collection of positive affirmations between users that believe humanity to be significant and special.

look at those misanthropes, we're better than they are!
yeah! high five!

And where do you fit in all this? We all think of ourselves as something that's not a bad thing.

 

[HalfBakedProphet]

It's true, but everything about our economy is based in growth. Countries are falling apart as population growth slows. We have utterly no idea how to function as a civilization if we're not growing in size.

yup.

The only answer for us is space. I'm of the opinion we'll wipe each other out before we get our shit together and get serious about space exploration. I'm a negative motherfucker though so idk

 

[Riddick]

The page was filled with "WOE IS ME HUMANITY IS A PLAGUE AND NEEDS TO DISAPPEAR"

Square seemed to use that a lot with some of their baddies. Or maybe I'm mixing general RPG baddies with all the FF games.

Humans are a plague but I don't need FF to tell me that I can see the results of our actions. As for the we need to disappear part I have to disagree, that kind of defeatist attitude is what allows our greedy ruling class to turn this species into a plague.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Stupid statement. Humans are part of life and no worse than any other creature.

 

[maomaoIYP]

I'm already doing my part, I'm never having any kids.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Stupid statement. Humans are part of life and no worse than any other creature.

Except for cats

I'm already doing my part, I'm never having any kids.

You're also using a piece of technology made from harmfully produced plastic and irreplacable metal

 

[legacyzero]

HAHAH

 

[teruterubozu]

I love how dystopia and nihilism is being reduced to Final Fantasy nerdism. Only on GAF.

 

[MiicD]

Obviously NONE of you have seen ARMAGEDDON, we might one day play out a similar scenario and save the Earth.. highly unlikely but not out of the realm of possibility, plus the Earth was created/born and will someday be destroyed/die, this is life, welcome.

 

[bonercop]

Do you think us as a species has a time limit where we need to find a way to populate the other planets in the solar system before the earth can no longer sustain us?

No, populating the solar system isn't a viable solution to our current predicament. We need to plan for the next 20-40 years. Letting go off coal is a really important step in this process.

I love how dystopia and nihilism is being reduced to Final Fantasy nerdism. Only on GAF.

well, i mean, c'mon, people are anthropomorphizing a planet. someone unironically wrote "from the earth's point of view...." in this thread

 

[ConfusingJazz]

Why would it not be? You don't think the earth and its surviving species would be better off without a species unnaturally filling its air, water, and ground with poison? Our trash, our carbon, and our chemicals? The nuclear waste byproducts that take thousands or millions of years to degrade? The species that die needlessly, not because they are in our food chain but rather they are in the way of our runoff? Not to mention the forests we destroy, the habitats we waste. I'm simply agreeing we are a plague. The species of earth would be better off without us. It's only a matter of time.

No, odds are those species will die, with or without us. The earth is pretty good at killing life all on its own. A volcanic eruption here, an asteroid there, an ice there, a continent here, and you have 99.99% of all species on earth being wiped out.

The air, earth, and water has had way more poison put into through natural processes then we could ever do.

You know what's also amazing?

Life, uh, finds a way.

So no, us being here or not won't matter one way or the other.

Well, maybe we can prevent an asteroid from colliding into us, but that's about it.

At the moment anyways.

 

[Amory]

Yeah fuck us!

We are what we are. I'm not gonna hate humanity for it.

 

[commedieu]

Humans are a plague but I don't need FF to tell me that I can see the results of our actions. As for the we need to disappear part I have to disagree, that kind of defeatist attitude is what allows our greedy ruling class to turn this species into a plague.

doesn't it go both ways though?

Example: No bankers are held responsible for robbing us all blind. The public says nothing.
What do you call that..? Same with civil rights violations.. drone strikes, etc.. Its one of those, it takes two to tango, deals.

What is it?

 

[Trey]

Takes a bitter cynical type to believe that.

Indeed. The type to complain things aren't awesome and then be complacent or act in a manner that conforms to their negative world view.

It's giving up in bad form.

 

[neoism]

I'm already doing my part, I'm never having any kids.

this.

 

[Gannd]

I'm already doing my part, I'm never having any kids.

How old are you?

 

[Tesseract]

scratch a cynic and you'll find an asshole. ~ carl sagan

 

[teruterubozu]

I'm already doing my part, I'm never having any kids.

Hopefully you won't get old and we have to take care of your ass too!

 

[yogloo]

"The planet is fine. The people are fucked."
- George Carlin

This. I am always annoyed when people say "save the earth."
The earth is fine. We are fucked.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

George Carlin/Bill Hicks soundbite wankers are top of my 'annoying people on the internet' list

 

[DiscoJer]

To me, there's basically only one resource - energy. With enough of that, you can do virtually everything. Metals can be recycled, food can be grown (and transported), other things can be synthesized. What's on the planet stays on the planet, it just changes forms.

About the only real exception is helium, which escapes. Why we keep wasting it on things like party balloons is beyond me - someday we're going to regret that.

And as to energy, personally I think the long term solution will be liquid fluoride thorium reactors. There's enough thorium for that to work for a long, long time.

 

[ConfusingJazz]

George Carlin/Bill Hicks soundbite wankers are top of my 'annoying people on the internet' list

Should really fire Dennis Leary quotes back to fuck with them.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

I wouldn't be surprised if another species, in gaining sentience, eventually polluted their planet via their technology.

I don't really take to the misanthrope's view of the world anymore.

It's inherently hypocritical. The Earth doesn't care because it's an inanimate object. Even if we nuked the Earth Macross style it still wouldn't care. In a number of years life would likely flourish again, continuing the cycle. Not to mention that nature is filled with what misanthropes typically condemn in humans.

You can either sit in your comfy chair enjoying the luxuries of life built off the backs of others while complaining on the internet about how humans are hopeless and should be exterminated, then logging off to partake in some activity that can be connected to the same things you condem in humans or you can offer constructive arguments on how to better maintain the Earth and the increasing human population.

I see now how pointless the typical misanthropic spiel on humans is. It really adds nothing to the conversation.

 

[travisbickle]

I'd like to see if there's any crossover in people who believe in the right to bear arms to protect their children, and people who believe in the need to reduce CO2 emissions to protect their children's children?

 

[Riddick]

doesn't it go both ways though?

Example: No bankers are held responsible for robbing us all blind. The public says nothing.
What do you call that..? Same with civil rights violations.. drone strikes, etc.. Its one of those, it takes two to tango, deals.

What is it?

I don't disagree, greed needs apathy to survive and there's plenty of both in the human race.

 

[NullPointer]

I see now how pointless the typical misanthropic spiel on humans is. It really adds nothing to the conversation.

Yep. I think its a phase. Some people have to get into the hate mindset because it can smash some of their naivete and allow them to see through some of the bullshit we deal with on a daily basis.

But when it comes down to actually trying to improve things? To deal with compromise between different world views and agendas? It doesn't help. It breeds apathy and retards progress.