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The Forum > General Discussion > Are Humans needed?

Are Humans needed?

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Dear csteele,

You wrote: Am I wrong for finding a measure of the same in the words … 'In my humble opinion there has never been a need for humans' Is this a non-believer adopting the musing of the Gods?

Maybe you are right. Anyone who considers the fate of humanity or its importance can be accused of adopting the musing of the Gods. It is unlikely to enter the consciousness of other species if we were to disappear.

However, there are other alternatives besides expending more finite resources or by adopting fiercely draconian measures to deal with our population growth. We can provide contraceptives to the general population including school children along with instructions on how to use them. We can see that more girls are educated. That has been shown to reduce the number of births per female. We can promote other expressions of sexuality such as oral techniques. We can accept homosexuality or childlessness among women to a greater extent than we do. Kevin Rudd accused Julia Gillard of being childless. A woman is not less valuable if she doesn’t have children. It has also been shown that in countries where there is a high child mortality people will have more children in hopes that some will survive. We can provide better medical care for mothers, infants and children.

Unfortunately some religions oppose proposed methods of population control. At the Cairo Population Conference Catholic representatives who opposed contraceptives and abortion got together with Muslim representatives who opposed education for women to scuttle recommendations of the conference proposing those initiatives.

Opposing religion where it interferes with population planning was not a key theme at the Global Atheist Convention. I hope there will be another GAC where religious opposition to population control will be considered. I also hope that members of the religious institutions will bring their religions into line. There are encouraging signs that this is happening. The retrogressive attitudes of the Catholic Church in this area are apparently being ignored in both Ireland and Italy which have much lower birth rates than most other countries.
Posted by david f, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 2:49:12 PM
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Human beings are no different to any other species. All species form part of the diverse range of life all of which are impacted, subtle or overtly, when changes occur in environments along with impacts on the food chain.

I hope human beings do go on forever but if we don't we won't know anything about it. Nothing is 'necessary' things will be just what they are.

Human beings, being the most versatile and innovative of the species have both the potential to impact the environment for better or for worse and as such have a great responsibility.

Greed is the biggest enemy in that process, particularly where profit driven behaviours often override any other facet of wellbeing, perhaps even survival in the long term.

Human beings are like any other animal or plant, existing at the mercy of not only our own behaviours (within our control) but also to factors out of our control such as meteorites or other disasters or the effects of war, overpopulation - it could be anything.

Who knows about the unknowable, but what we do know is that if human beings continue to pollute and contaminate the very nest they live and rely, the future may not be so pretty.

Hopefully we will be collectively smart enough to realise it before it is too late.
Posted by pelican, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 3:41:27 PM
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planet 3, like most greenies, there is no fun, & therefor no joy in your soul.
Posted by Hasbeen, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 4:32:00 PM
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I dare so humans are the only ones immoral enough to kill many of their unborn before birth.
Posted by runner, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 4:45:52 PM
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Dear runner,

Here you go mate, from Wikipedia;

"Competitive infanticide in lions, hippopotamuses, and some monkeys, the new male will kill the offspring of the previous alpha male to cause their mothers to become receptive to his sexual advances since they are no longer nursing."

"Harassment to miscarriage amongst wild horses and baboons, the male will "systematically harass" pregnant females until they miscarry."

"Pheromone based spontaneous abortion in some rodents such as mice, a new male with a different scent will cause females who are pregnant to spontaneously fail to implant recently fertilized eggs. This does not require contact; it is mediated by scent alone. It is known as the Bruce-Parkes effect."

Now how about a little hush?
Posted by csteele, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 5:05:51 PM
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*Yabby.......Dont you mean "man made" virus.*

No I don't, Planet 3. Viruses and bacteria can mutate all by
themselves and they did so a long time before we came along.
Posted by Yabby, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 6:08:32 PM
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