We have removed most of our limiting factors. We have killed the predators that preyed on us, conquered disease, mastered child mortality, and produced sufficient food and shelter. Consequently our numbers over the last two hundred years have gone through exponential growth.
As a biologist it is apparent what this means.
Unchecked our numbers will continue to rise.
We will destroy the remains of our natural environment.
We will use up our resources.
We will pollute our environment.
Then we will suffer a terminal population crash.
I predict this will not come about through war but through a simple virus mutation.
We are at a crossroads.
We can apply our intelligence.
Limit our numbers.
Create room for the wild-life and wilderness.
Create balance and harmony.
Create more equality across the globe.
Do away with mediaeval superstition and develop better science, technology, social structures and politics.
Or we die.
After we are gone the remnants of life will fill the void. In a billion years or so the world will be teeming with a rich ecology. Our demise will create a space for new types of creatures to evolve.
Who knows – they may even be intelligent.
Let us hope, for their sake, they turn out to be more intelligent than us!
Check out Anthropocene Apocalypse it tells the story!
The only hope is to change the zeitgeist!!
