Leave the whales alone.

[dimreepr]

This made me laugh and got me thinking; we undoubtedly have a measurable impact (not just from scientific/agricultural study) on the evolution of much fauna and flora of this planet.

 

My question: how much and how might it colour our future, for better or worse?

Edited June 13, 2014 by dimreepr

[Ten oz]

Mass extinction events seem to have had the biggest impact throughout history. We (humans) appear to be creating the next mass extinction so our impact is huge, obviously. We are destroying habitats all over the world. In the future if your a species that humans don't eat, keep as pets, or think is incredibly cute it is safe to say you're future is bleak.

[Acme]

Mass extinction events seem to have had the biggest impact throughout history. We (humans) appear to be creating the next mass extinction so our impact is huge, obviously. We are destroying habitats all over the world. In the future if your a species that humans don't eat, keep as pets, or think is incredibly cute it is safe to say you're future is bleak.

Invasive species of the inedible, wild, and ugly kind are having a field day throughout the world. By all indications their future is bright.

[Ten oz]

Invasive species of the inedible, wild, and ugly kind are having a field day throughout the world. By all indications their future is bright.

We'll get around to killing them too. I have faith in our ability to destroy habitats.

[Acme]

We'll get around to killing them too. I have faith in our ability to destroy habitats.

Well, enjoy your view then.

[dimreepr]

We'll get around to killing them too. I have faith in our ability to destroy habitats.

 

 

 

We don’t only destroy habitats, we create them; evolution doesn’t care which, it will just fill the niche.

 

Good luck trying to eradicate cockroaches or rats, to name but millions.

[Dekan]

We'll get around to killing them too. I have faith in our ability to destroy habitats.

That's right. Consider for example, the human body. This contains a gloriously rich habitat for all kinds of life.

 

Such as fleas, lice, pubic crabs, and a wealth of disease-causing germs. Surely these organisms have an evolutionary right to live on our bodies. Why should we deny them their ancient habitat - by "cleansing" our bodily skin with modern inventions. Like soap, baths, and showers.

 

Every time we take a shower, we are ruthlessly destroying the ancestral habitat of millions of time-begotten germs.

And It's even worse with medicines and antibiotics. They kill a rich panoply of germs - not just on the surface skin, but inside our bodies as well!

 

How can we square our conscience with such a calculated germicidal holocaust. Don't the germs have a right to life?

[dimreepr]

That's right. Consider for example, the human body. This contains a gloriously rich habitat for all kinds of life.

 

Such as fleas, lice, pubic crabs, and a wealth of disease-causing germs. Surely these organisms have an evolutionary right to live on our bodies. Why should we deny them their ancient habitat - by "cleansing" our bodily skin with modern inventions. Like soap, baths, and showers.

 

Every time we take a shower, we are ruthlessly destroying the ancestral habitat of millions of time-begotten germs.

And It's even worse with medicines and antibiotics. They kill a rich panoply of germs - not just on the surface skin, but inside our bodies as well!

 

How can we square our conscience with such a calculated germicidal holocaust. Don't the germs have a right to life?

 

 

 

Through the overuse of all of these things we have just created bugs that are immune to just about every weapon we have, however much we think we’re in control, we just aren’t...

Edited June 19, 2014 by dimreepr

[Ten oz]

Well, enjoy your view then.

It was a failed attempt at humor. I thought the laughing face would make it clear I was joking.

[Acme]

 

 

We'll get around to killing them too. I have faith in our ability to destroy habitats.

Well, enjoy your view then.

 

It was a failed attempt at humor. I thought the laughing face would make it clear I was joking.

 

It was a failed attempt at repartee. I thought the absence of emoticons would make it clear.

 

As to the OP, predictions are hard to make especially when they deal with the future. For today I agree we should leave the whales alone excepting for using them in cartoons which suggest we should leave them alone.

[Dekan]

 

 

 

Through the overuse of all of these things we have just created bugs that are immune to just about every weapon we have, however much we think we’re in control, we just aren’t...

Don't be too pessimistic. It's true that we've overused antibiotics by doing silly things like putting them into animal feed. But that was just a kind of excusable natural exuberance.

Now that we've realised their potential, we can move on to direct genetic manipulation. This will replace crude antibiotics - which are really just a kind of "set a bug to catch a bug"

 

In future, we'll be able to dispense with that - and genetically engineer our bodies to resist all undesirable bugs.

 

What chance do brainless bugs have against the applied power of human Science?

[Acme]

...

What chance do brainless bugs have against the applied power of human Science?

Rapid reproduction and per se evolution in overwhelming numbers.

[dimreepr]

Don't be too pessimistic. It's true that we've overused antibiotics by doing silly things like putting them into animal feed. But that was just a kind of excusable natural exuberance.

Now that we've realised their potential, we can move on to direct genetic manipulation. This will replace crude antibiotics - which are really just a kind of "set a bug to catch a bug"

 

 

It’s not about pessimism it’s about realism, TBH I hope you’re right, but I very much doubt it.

In future, we'll be able to dispense with that - and genetically engineer our bodies to resist all undesirable bugs.

 

What chance do brainless bugs have against the applied power of human Science?

 

 

 

 

The future is impossible to predict, but with an eye on history it’s possible to have a very good guess, you’re guess, however, doesn’t seem to be based on anything quantifiable.

[Ten oz]

Species do not evolve continously at a set pace. Evolution occurs when different mutations allow members of a species to avoid extinction or provides them an adavantage over others. If a species is thriving it generally doesn't evolve as all members are able to pass their genes freely.

So if we are trying to predict evolution I think looking at which species are endangered are the most likely candidates for the adaptation.

[dimreepr]

New environments = a new niche. The only certainty is that niche will be filled by nature; who knows what life form will fill it?

[Dekan]

Rapid reproduction and per se evolution in overwhelming numbers.

 

Surely their rapid reproduction has been overwhelmed by the power of human Science. Modern scientific products - soap, toothpaste, and disinfectant, daily defeat the ancient bacterial hordes.

 

And the same defeat has been inflicted on old insect pests such as bedbugs, fleas and lice.

 

For example, has any poster here, still got lice on their body?

[dimreepr]

 

Surely their rapid reproduction has been overwhelmed by the power of human Science. Modern scientific products - soap, toothpaste, and disinfectant, daily defeat the ancient bacterial hordes.

 

And the same defeat has been inflicted on old insect pests such as bedbugs, fleas and lice.

 

For example, has any poster here, still got lice on their body?

 

 

And yet rats, cockroaches, virus' and bacteria still exist.

 

Edit/ Not to mention bedbugs, fleas and lice.

Edited June 20, 2014 by dimreepr

[Acme]

 

Rapid reproduction and per se evolution in overwhelming numbers.

Surely their rapid reproduction has been overwhelmed by the power of human Science. Modern scientific products - soap, toothpaste, and disinfectant, daily defeat the ancient bacterial hordes.

 

And the same defeat has been inflicted on old insect pests such as bedbugs, fleas and lice.

 

For example, has any poster here, still got lice on their body?

 

Actually all our germ killing products have promoted the evolution of bugs resistant to them.

 

CDC sets threat levels for drug-resistant 'superbugs'

CNN) -- Health officials have been warning us about antibiotic overuse and drug-resistant "superbugs" for a long time. But today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sounding the alarm in a new way.

 

For the first time, the CDC is categorizing drug-resistant superbugs by threat level. That's because, in their conservative estimates, more than 2 million people get antibiotic-resistant infections each year, and at least 23,000 die because current drugs no longer stop their infections.

 

Antibiotics are designed to kill bacteria that cause infection. However, in the process they can also kill so-called good bacteria (the human body hosts about 100 trillion).

 

The Missouri Department of Health explains it this way: "Every time a person takes antibiotics, sensitive bacteria are killed, but resistant germs may be left to grow and multiply. Repeated and improper uses of antibiotics are primary causes of the increase in drug-resistant bacteria."

...

Fleas, lice, and bedbugs are doing just fine thank you.

 

Bed Bugs on the Rise

Bed bugs appear to be on the rise around the world, as more and more experts and professionals in pest control report huge rises in prevalence, even so far as to suggest we are on the verge of a bed bug pandemic.

 

The results of the 2010 Comprehensive Global Bed Bug Study conducted by the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) and the University of Kentucky in the United States found that 95 per cent of respondents said their company had encountered a bed bug infestation in the last year: this compared to only 25 per cent reporting such encounters before 2000. The survey questioned nearly 1,000 US and international pest management companies.

...