What if humans were an invasive species? Are we invasive?? How would you know? Who would ever tell you?
Sometimes it's important to ponder the meaning of life, the universe, and why we're here.
Why?
"I just want to have fun in life." you might say. Yes, so do I. So do most people.
Ever wonder though, if humans are an invasive species?
A quick look at what an invasive species is, by Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_species
An invasive species is a plant, fungus, or animal species that is not native to a specific location (an introduced species), and which has a tendency to spread to a degree believed to cause damage to the environment, human economy or human health.
Wow. Guess who wrote that? Humans.
Humans can't be an invasive species, because anything that can damage the human economy or human health is considered to be an invasive species.
Let's take 5 full seconds of silence, and let that sink in...
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Yeah.
Should we laugh at that? Is it humerous to know, that anything that affects our economy or our health could be invasive, but we're not?
I know for a fact that we're an invasive species towards the environment, nature, other animals, plants, the well being of the planet, etc.
I found an article that kind of addressed the same thing I am talking about:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/are-humans-an-invasive-species-42999965/
** SPOILER ALERT **
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Verdict: We're not an invasive species, though we're certainly doing harm to the world around us
Ya think?
Ok @intelliguy, where are you going with this?
I see a lot of people saying things like...
"If we could just feed the entire world first..."
"If we can just cure all forms of cancer easily, and cheap..."
"If we get rid of poverty, and everyone got a minimal guaranteed income..."
They are all great ideas. I just wonder, by myself, what would happen, if we continue to grow our population bigger and bigger and bigger..
No one likes to think about this stuff. Including me.
SO WHY ARE YOU WRITING ABOUT IT THEN?
I don't know. Something told me I should.
I like to stretch and exercise my brain. Think of things I normally wouldn't. I like to ponder life, the universe and human existence itself. I feel that most people don't do that.. and why not.. it can be interesting.
Even if Wikipedia doesn't give an official definition that we're an invasive species, I know we are.
Solution?
That's awful. Don't even go there. That's where I can't think even further. I appreciate life. I appreciate my life, I appreciate your life, and I appreciate anything given the chance at life.
What I don't appreciate is humans that think they have solutions for this human invasive species problem.
#1 One human, or another group of humans, do not get the privilege of deciding which humans stay or are allowed to flourish. They just can't. Most humans will always choose "some other group" or some other person, to be the one to make the sacrifice. That's not fair.
...but if I make that rule for myself on how I think about this problem...
...then I must have another same rule for myself...
#2 One human, or another group of humans, do not get the privilege of deciding who feeds the world, or how we can. Oh, but that feels wrong. That's the same thing as #1 isn't it?
Well wait a minute. This is circular logic. There is no real answer here.
I feel cheated you might say.
Well, the title of the article was this:
What if humans were an invasive species? Are we invasive?? How would you know? Who would ever tell you?
- We all should know we're an invasive species.
- You already know that, or should know that..
- ...and who would ever tell you?
I just did.
It's a brave soul who comments to an article like this where this no easy way to talk about it... but I encourage it. Feel free to write...
ANYTHING...
P.S. I already anticipate what I will probably see wide scale in my lifetime, but I won't say it..
W _ _
(3 letter word, rhymes with gore)
It's sad... and I predict it is going to be true.
Ok, take the thought experiment one step further...
What if humans are actually two species,
...one invasive and one native?
...one "good" and one "evil"?
...one "crop" and one "weeds"?
...one "wheat" and one "tares"?
What if the invasive species is on track to wipe out the native species?
Would that justify a Gardener spraying those weeds with a little Roundup?
When I write a post, and slowly see silent upvotes accumulating. I know I've reached someone. That's really special to me and keeps me writing.
To all of you, thank you. :)
Isn't it even more fun when people leave comments though?
That's when my smile turns to an ear-to-ear grin. :) I love it when people engage themselves with important topics.
I build food forests and gardens and plant many species that colleagues warn me are invasive species, but I don't believe them. They only become invasive when taken out of context with the natural ecosystem.
If there were such a thing as invasive species they would have taken over our planet by now. By definition, we are the best example of an invasive species. Nothing even comes close to humans in that respect. I was surprised to see a post articulating what I have always believed.
Upvoted.
@intelliguy
All species can be considered "invasive" when viewed from the perspective of another species. Life is about competion.
99.999% of all species that ever existed are now extinct due to this very competition. The planet so far went under 5 mass extinctions, none of them because of humans. Your feeling about being human are irrelevant.
once again. not a very intelli-guy post afterall
To anyone reading this, kyriacos started as my first official troll from my last post.
His words:
He's a gem, and definition of a troll at its finest.
My post has 100 upvotes, and he basically invalidated 100 of you for his thoughts. Nice.
I won't engage him. There is a famous saying... "if you argue with a fool, you have to wonder who the fool really is..."
I could start an endless debate with him about how humans are the most destructive species to ever walk the earth and past history has no bearing on how we're the most invasive today.. But why bother? He'd just continue on because of his hatred for how I think. I fully expect him to reply, and he probably will. To which, I'll ignore him.
Upvotes are irrelevant. most people vote to get money and petty rewards. at this stage of the platform 100 upvotes is nothing.
you won't engage because you have no arguments. i posted arguments and you answer wih whining.
btw +5 followers from this very comment :)
idiot
I don't think he's a troll . He's brought up some very good point which you chose to ignore.
Instead you reply with Alinsky rule number five.
Every bug, has a purpose otherwise it would not exist. But when left unchecked can manifest in infestation.
Interesting. I think you are right. I don't know how you're right "for sure". But it makes sense to me. I agree with that..
I also suspect when you say "left unchecked" you don't mean the government. You mean nature, natural predators, the cycle of life, etc? Humans have halted most of our natural predators, so I guess we're unchecked. Hmm...
May I suggest that this is a bit oversimplified?
When you cite a "purpose," to what ends or for what reason? To simply say that it has a purpose, ascribes motivation or intention. when really, the only purpose they serve is to survive. And yes, survival includes making oneself useful to the ecosystem to facilitate longevity, however, I don't know that one can say for certain that the way a particular species fits into the ecosystem is a purpose. After all, species can become extinct if their survival strategies do not fit a changing ecosystem.
Further more, how can one say how an ecosystem should be! Sure, we have the state it was in as we developed within it, but we cannot say for certain that it is the natural world. From what we can tell, the ecosystem was very different indeed in the Paleozoic era. How can one say that wasn't the original or purposeful ecosystem?
It feels to me like most of us humans are on fragile ground right now due to endless wars, the threat of another world war, nuclear destruction, weather events increasing in intensity or changing altogether and creating deserts out of former breadbaskets and well populated areas, aquifers drying up or becoming contaminated, Fukushima radiation in the pacific, big boys squaring off for the Petro-Dollar Belt, and the possibility of people wanting to get rid of vast swathes of people to make more space ... ;-)
I find myself responding to all of this as a populist and citizen of humanity. Check out my defense of the human race. :-)
I do not believe that there is sufficient evidence to write humanity off so fast. Consider, if you will, the First Nations of Northern America, who lived in great harmony with the environment, shepherding it even. I've read that there are diaries or some historical texts that report Northern America being almost park-like due to their stewardship. I've also heard it hypothesized that Europe's little ice age was in large part due to the flourishing fauna, wildlife, and tribes of humans effecting the gulf stream - if I'm recalling correctly.
Consider also, how so many humans often react to seeing an animal that might be up for a limbic system connection. Humans are warm and caring. I know that sounds crazy at present - but I feel like we've been, and are still being, all jacked up to be forecasting negativity and threat. Skillfully prodded into destructive, hateful attitudes and sometimes acts through stoking fear and hate, if you will.
So it appears that we are not always "invasive." I think it comes down to how we conduct ourselves. Therefore, the conclusion that "Humans are an invasive species" lacks further evidence. We cannot see the forest of humanity for the trees of our present, somewhat dire, circumstances.
To take it a step further, I'm coming to believe that concluding that we are "invasive" serves to exacerbate the problem itself. We've gotta stop buying into the narrative that we humans are bad by default. We have evidence to the contrary in many tribal cultures and we know that there is manipulation afoot.
Take the universe for example. Outer space. There is a good chance that humanity has been held back from taking to space. There is no acceptable reason given to us for why NASA suddenly stopped establishing our foothold on the moon and no other country or group took up the mission. Unless there's NASA history I'm unaware of. Space travel, Goldilocks planets, heck, any rock we can bore in to and pressurize provides, conceptually, limitless space. It would also enable getting out from under the thumb of conniving, manipulating governments - hey, maybe that has something to do with us being earth-locked and destructive.
PS, great post! Pertinent topic of discussion. Love the invitation to share viewpoints and discuss.
Cheers!
There's plenty of NASA history you're unaware of, and that would include NASA employees too. It's on a need-to-know basis. It has to be.
So it would appear. So how do you see that fitting in with the "humans are an invasive species" perspective?
What do you think about my suggestion that we are not invasive by default?
Hi @intelliguy, I came across this interesting presentation that talks about humanity:
I do not disagree with you, I think it is obvious to look around and equate humans with destruction, but what if that is not our "default" net result of our existence?
Best, Father Mayhem
Cheers!
So do you subscribe to the theory that humans originated from some other planet and were somehow added to this planet?
Oh Tim, looking for one of my next blog posts are you? Grin. You asked, I must answer.
I believe that earth is a "testing ground" for souls, given free will and opportunity to choose right from wrong when given temptations in both directions.
We have a 3D physical world here. We're watched on our progress. Only the ones ready to graduate to the next level (like a video game concept), get to graduate and go where we belong.
It sounds like religion I'm talking about. But I don't think I am.
Is that a suitable answer in a paragraph or less? It really deserves a whole blog post on the topic. :)
You and I are on the same wavelength :)
I already felt that long ago. hehe.. and you suspected it. You're just making sure.
I agree with you on this. And I also agree that in the physical dimension we're currently in, there is a huge invasive element. It's not easy to reconcile those two concepts. If it's our testing ground, can we be invasive? And, as @fathermayhem says, there is plenty of evidence for human warmth as well.
We can be invasive to the point of seeing who identifies that we're invasive, and who doesn't.
There are people around us, that thrive by current the state of the world. Those same people who step on others to get ahead win today and tomorrow, but they have a very bleak future afterwards for it.
Do you have a link to the human warmth post? I saw the national debt mention in one of his and I wrote (what I thought was an insightful response) to it..
https://steemit.com/government/@fathermayhem/the-rule-of-law-or-the-rule-of-whim
The thing is though that we don't have to be. (At least, whether we have to be is a different question than just the way we're currently living.)
We also are invasive towards each other, in our current capacity. So there's no reason to think that we can't learn to respect the environment and the other life forms as we learn to respect ourselves.
I think it's totally possible that we're not native to earth. But that doesn't mean we have to mistreat it and that we're fundamentally invasive. We just have to learn, either how to live in harmony with it or where the f#%k we came from and how to get back there.
I don't think we're invasive. But I do think we're designed to be complementary, something we're largely failing at.
OTOH, I do know some pretty invasive people. :P