We're bacteria

[dragonrider]

We aren't bacteria, viruses or parasites. We are like all other lifeforms in that our natural tendency is to reporduce and expand to fill our environment to the extent possible. One difference is that we have a much greater capacity to change our environment than other creatures do, and we have no natural barriers to our expansion, so we have a great capacity to cause harm to our environment and other creatures that share it. The other crucial difference is that we have a capacity to recognize that problem and do something about it. Bacteria, viruses and parasites cannot do that --- they often kill their hosts. Hopefully we are enough different that we will not kill our host.

[Ghengis Chron]

Actually we are destroying our environment, and quite quickly I might add. Most people don't realize just how delicate the ecosystems of the world really are. For example, you take the Wolves out of their ecosystem, its prey, Caribou and Elk's population skyrocket without a predator to keep it in check. As time goes by, without the Wolve to purge the Elk population of the weak and old, these less than perfect genes spread its way through the population and weaken.

These type of relationships, literally millions upon billions of creatures relying on something to survive, an intricate food WEB of relationships. If you snap one line of web connecting certain organisms the web itself grows weaker. It has taken Billions of years for these intricate and complex relationships and dependencies to form, and it's taking us literally decades to destroy them.

So yes, we are destroying our environment. Maybe we're subconsciously destroying it, but there's no debate that we are. Secondly, no it is not going in Slow-Mo, it is going in hyper speed. Considering how old this earth is, and how long these ecosystems 'have existed, we are destorying it in a snap of the fingers.

The way I see it, the human species is way overdue for a major population reduction in some form or another. We are approaching carrying capacity and eventually we're going to kill eachother trying to maintain a perfect homeostasis for individual selves, or a "Natural Disaster" will occur. Be it virus, asteroid, earthquake, volcano, tsunami, whatever.

[dragonrider]

Ghengis, I agree with you on the pace of our destruction of our environment, and I am afraid we'll pass a tipping point soon and lose everything good about this earth. But I also think we have a chance if we wise up soon to save ourselves and some of our environment. It's a close call as to how it will turn out, maybe 50-50 odds at best.

[KiRRANE]

Nah I think we're more of a Virus. No other animal on this planet does as much harm to their surroundings as we do. We're a parasite. All we do is take. And to think, the best way to get rid of this "virus" is by another virus, say the influenza virus.

This is exactly how I feel. We may be more complex than a virus, but we act just like one.

[McLeodGanja]

I'm sure I read somewhere that we are made of bacteria, basically every single living cell in our bodies is biologically a type of bacteria. The type of bacteria that we are made off is, according to modern theories of evolution anyway, exactly the same stuff that made the very first living creature that swam this earth, or evolved from a pile of dinosaur shite, or even farther back than that back ferments of the froth of genesis. I think that's right anyway. You can better check The Web of Life (Capra). In any case the fact that we are made of bacteria is the least mind boggling fact about our existence.

[Ghengis Chron]

Yes, we do have certain bacteria in our bodies, some harmful and some helpful. I don't think we're completely made up of bacteria. I think were made up of certain natural elements, carbon in particular

[Acouwaila]

Its true, we've taken our gift and completely thrown it away specifically in the name of greed. We assumed we were great, we assumed we were seperate because we could think different thoughts at the same time, but we never thought that we were thinking AT the same time, and everything in the universe was happening at THAT same time. Its gone way too far....we've destroyed everything, and I guarantee you there is no turning back. A lot of people may think that its not so bad. But holy shit, is it bad. It is bad. But it is real at the same time....we are just a small part of this reality man...we'll be over and done with before anyone knows it...and if people continue to live their lives looking for the next thrill and always waiting, or even always searching....there might still be a fear when the end does come....but perhaps the end of existance of humans at this point need to be wiped out....all things that do not flow or adapt, die out. its a part of evolution. We are not treating the evnironment as a beautiful glorious wonderful pearl, as it is. We are treating ourselves, how we want. When in reality, its not about ONE person EVER. We are not working ourselves in with the universe, how we should. Since that is what we are of. and a part of. We do not adapt with reality, therefore we will die out.

[human8]

Never Quote Joe Rogan, I agree. But, Bill Hicks is a quotidian quote supplier in these parts.

I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are.
-Bill Hicks

" Go back to your rutting once we figure out this 'FOOD/AIR' deal"

[TurnyBright]

If we're heating our plant up w/ greenhouse gases, polluting our air, hastening the extinction of certain animal species, melting the polar ice caps, and changing the sea levels, we're hurting our environment and those that other living organisms depend on. It's just happening in slow mo in comparison to, say, throwing trash out of the car window or spewing exhaust into someone's face.

Not sure why the OP didn't use the term "organisms" in place of "bacteria." Bacteria are fairly simple organisms. We're a lot more complex.

i have to agree with Jouryokujin, we are not "hurting" the environment because an environment is not an entity to be hurt

an environment is simply a state of being, and our actions change the current state of being on earth.

is the environment on venus (totally hostile to earth-life) "hurt"? is it "dead"? No, of course not, it's just an environment and thats the way it is.

Whether we like it or not, someday the human race will be extinct along with all other species on earth and there will be new environments, maybe new life-forms, maybe not. Maybe new intelligences (as we know them), maybe not. Whatever happens, it will be no more or less valuable and beautiful than the current situation.

"Actually we are destroying our environment, and quite quickly I might add. Most people don't realize just how delicate the ecosystems of the world really are. For example, you take the Wolves out of their ecosystem, its prey, Caribou and Elk's population skyrocket without a predator to keep it in check. As time goes by, without the Wolve to purge the Elk population of the weak and old, these less than perfect genes spread its way through the population and weaken."

Au contraire, Genghis Chron. You fail to realize just how durable, indeed, indestructible the ecosystem is. The ecosystem as a whole, I mean. The ecosystem of ecosystems. For every depleted ecosystem there will be one to replace it.

[Alexico]

we are bacteria in the sense of how we see bacteria, we could just be the bacteria to something bigger.