"If the choice that confronts us is between a world without nature and a world without humanity, today’s most radical anti-humanist thinkers don’t hesitate to choose the latter. In his 2006 book, Better Never to Have Been, the celebrated “antinatalist” philosopher David Benatar argues that the disappearance of humanity would not deprive the universe of anything unique or valuable: “The concern that humans will not exist at some future time is either a symptom of the human arrogance … or is some misplaced sentimentalism.”
Humanists, even secular ones, assume that only humans can create meaning and value in the universe. Without us, we tend to believe, all kinds of things might continue to happen on Earth, but they would be pointless—a show without an audience. For anti-humanists, however, this is just another example of the metaphysical egoism that leads us to overwhelm and destroy the planet. “What is so special about a world that contains moral agents and rational deliberators?” Benatar asks. “That humans value a world that contains beings such as themselves says more about their inappropriate sense of self-importance than it does about the world.” Rather, we should take comfort in the certainty that humans will eventually disappear: “Things will someday be the way they should be—there will be no people.”"
An interesting viewpoint, from The People Cheering for Humanity's End, found while doing research about the coming fall in the world's population (more on that later...)
"Humanists, even secular ones" - I don't think he knows what that first word means, certainly not the common modern meaning, which is odd as Adam Kirsch is a book critic and poet so you'd expect him to understand the importance of words. The idea of a Theist Humanist makes about as much sense as a "secular Jew", which is how he describes himself so it begins to make sense.
ReplyDeleteI kinda refute the entire extracted portion of the article as he's equating Humanists to the Borg. I doubt you'd find many Humanists who question the existence, or possibility, of intelligent alien life (who would also be capable of impacting the universe), versus many theists for whom the existence of alien life would threaten their faith.
Inevitably, with the heat death of the Universe just a few trillion years away, there will be no humans. I'm fine with that, so I agree with the final sentence in the quote, but I doubt the sincerity with which it was written.
Okay, this is just what the robots want you to think.
ReplyDeleteC'mon no normal animal or human wants to see their children or grandchildren fade away, become extinct, it's not just a human trait. Humans have greater capability to shape the Earth for there own safety/comfort than Beavers building a pond, or critters burrowing a nest, so urging restraint is wise.
ReplyDeleteBut people who ponder the Earth without humans as a good thing, and have no qualms about such an extinction, should be watched very carefully.
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, or a Holocaust, or genocide.
xoxoxoBruce
C'mon no normal animal or human wants to see their children or grandchildren fade away, become extinct, it's not just a human trait.
DeleteSure. But plenty of people chose to not have offspring. That's a perfectly human trait.
A lot of people don't seem to realize that humans - as well as most of the other species alive today - are here because the vast majority of our predecessors went extinct. It is a fact that virtually the entire early biology of Earth was destroyed by the evolution of oxygen producing organisms. Early anaerobic life was not very complex, but what might it have become over a billion years? Later, successive waves of creatures dominated the Earth, and if they did not disappear we would not be here. We focus too much on the dinosaurs, perhaps, but they are a perfect example. They died out, and our tiny mammal ancestors grew to enormous proportions and took their place.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe humanity is worth more than any other species. But humanity behaves as if its worth more. In the process, it imperils every other species and itself. So, we have humanity on track toward the destruction of itself and all other life or no humanity, with all other life remaining---at least until that life meets with some other destructive force. This is a no-brainer. In a thought experiment, humans gotta go. Modern humans are an asteroid with consciousness. The only species plagued by a lethal case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very concerning ideology. With synthetic biology predicted to lower the barrier to develop bioweapons an extremist might develop a pathogen, or multiple, to hasten the extinction of humans.
ReplyDeleteI find the focus on "extremists" ironic given what the average human is participating in on a daily basis. Ice caps melting, oceans dying, human suffering due to terrible distribution of the worlds resources, as the rich hog 20 times what they need. Then, we "normal" humans are all culpable for the war machine and 8,000 nukes, locked and loaded. More narrowly, look at how screen time is destroying the brains of entire generations, as obesity runs epidemic--also neuro-destructive (not just my opinion, tune-in to the latest brain science). Extremists are the threat?
DeleteThe trend has already started. Without war, genocide, disease. I'll blog more later, but first peek at this -
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/22/world/global-population-shrinking.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
That's one way to deal with the conundrums of meaning and mortality... make it meaningless and make it universal, respectively. It's a pessimistic view, perhaps nihilistic as well. It assumes we cannot or will not clean up our mess. (We did save the Takhi horses from extinction.) He also mentions a problem with metaphysical egoism, then demonstrates it by essentially assuming that we know everything about everything. But the universe still has its mysteries. Who knows what the future of discovery through the eons of deep time may hold? In any case, Laurie and Dr. Manhattan had this to say... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2h8NV_-KD4
ReplyDeleteGiven what we 're doing to life on Earth, why roll the dice on the possibility we can or will "clean up our mess?" I can't imagine any other species voting to keep running the experiment. In fact, every other species would vote to shut it down, and rightly so. It's because we're steeped in human exceptionalism that we go on imagining we're anointed as the indispensable species; the worst possible belief system were we serious about avoiding extinction. In a paradoxical sense, what's deemed "pessimistic" is probably the only medicine that could help us.
DeleteThe harm we've inflicted on the environment is egregious. Much of it long-lasting, some of it permanent. At this point, perhaps the best we can hope for is something akin to E.O. Wilson's Half-Earth. In the meantime, I'll continue to support The Nature Conservancy and policies that foster holistic solutions to environmental problems. Realistically, a world with nature and humanity is now and will continue to be our only choice.
Delete