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How David Attenborough and the catastrophist crew have humanity wrong : Comments
By Graham Young, published 5/5/2021He's not the only environmentalist to downgrade and misclassify homo sapiens, but it is a damaging mistake to pretend that, somehow, we are not members, albeit the most outstanding members, of nature.
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Dear Cumberland,
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You wrote :
« So saying it would be better if we were all dead is not downgrading humanity? »
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I don’t see why it should, Cumberland – the way we live our lives could, perhaps, be downgrading – but I can’t think of any reason why death should be considered as “downgrading humanity”, whatever the circumstances.
Apparently, you interpret David Attenborough’s statement to mean that the world (or nature) “would be better if we were all dead”. That’s not what he said at all, Cumberland, but taken out of context, it could, possibly, be interpreted like that.
If you care to read (or reread) the “Independent” article to which Graham posted a link, you will see that what Attenborough actually said in his interview with the BBC was as follows :
« Human beings, even with the best will in the world, cannot but restrict the natural world. That's what we're doing, we're pushing it aside, even the most considerate of us.
« That's almost inevitable to some degree, but let us realise we are intruders, that we are latecomers, and that the natural world actually by-and-large would do much better if we weren't there at all. »
Attenborough describes humans as “intruders” and “latecomers”. By “intruders”, in this context, he means “introduced into a situation with disruptive or adverse effect” (OED definition), and “latecomers” because homo sapiens are one of the last, if not the last of the animal species developed by nature.
So, Attenborough is not saying that the world (or nature) “would be better if we were all dead” as you suggest, Cumberland. He is saying that the world (or nature) “would do much better if nature had never developed us [from our common ancestor with the chimpanzees about five to seven million years ago].
That, of course, is Attenborough’s personal opinion – which I do not necessarily share – but, unlike Graham, I do not consider that Attenborough “downgrades and misclassifies homo sapiens”. As I indicated in my previous post, Attenborough admonishes homo sapiens for “downgrading and misclassifying” nature.
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