Anirudh Week 4: The Species That Writes Its Own Indictment
We often think, if an alien arrived on Earth it would return with a rather bleak view on humanity (assume it had the required cognitive capability to do so). We’ve warmed and acidified the oceans, driven species to extinction, and repeatedly found ways to turn our own inventions against us.
Tangentially, I mean, we’re making a bit of an assumption. If alien life is anything like we know life on Earth is, their society would likely maximize wellbeing, even if it meant extreme resource depletion. Thus, assuming what an alien might walk away with is extremely arbitrary. But it also points us in the direction of a weird but fascinating effect.
Take a chicken for example. It wakes up in the morning, eats to satiate its hunger, and executes instinctive decisions. A person on the other hand, could wake up with immense grief and drive to do something to help the environment. Would get up one day with a drive to inflict harm or malice on nature or Earth? According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, almost 100% of global emissions map onto a practical human need, mostly food, shelter, warmth, medicine, and economic goods.
Yet as seen in the article titled “Humanity is waging war on nature, says UN secretary general” published in the Guardian on December 2nd, 2020, media often paints humans as perpetrators of malicious crimes against the environment. We’re also the only species that actively rescues and saves other species though, having saved hundreds of plant and animal species from extinction.
Thus, media rhetoric may be causing us to conflate consequence with intention. Saying that humans have caused environmental destruction is vastly different from saying humanity is “waging war” on the planet. The more critical effect is internalization however. If the dominant vocabulary surrounding humanity is extinction, pollution, destruction, exploitation and climate catastrophe, it begins to look less like the description of a species made up of diverse and complex individuals and more like a description of a criminal.
Oh my goodness! I read your title about a species that indicts itself. I first thought, "Ooh wow, I wonder what species that could be? Maybe some bug or animal?" and completely missed the connection that it was humans. I didn't realize it until I got to the picture of the firefighter (saving nature) that certain humans in the media were indicting themselves.
ReplyDeleteI've never been a fan of calling myself a criminal or a sucker. I much rather prefer claiming my credit where it's due and behaving humbly enough to not arouse contempt. However, it's also scary to get blamed for something you didn't do, like set the world on fire, as this news article claims. I find it important to set the record straight with anyone who might be mistaken. Because I'm not just about to walk away from there without being acquitted from that indictment!
This is such a new interesting perspective that you’ve brought up, even if it is through a hypothetical alien! We humans do have a unique way of acting, we have singlehandedly destroyed the things that keep us alive including our home and creatures that help us. This is completely unique to us, but usually a side effect of capitalism and the importance of profits over people that let CEOs and big corporations degrade the environment. In sci-fi media, humans are consistently portrayed as evil destroyers that tend to mess up, the creation of AI and the destruction of Earth are also common themes that have existed for decades. Because of these recurring themes, it seems to have shown us what to do instead of originally being a warning of what not to do. I agree that humans as a whole can look like criminals through our actions, but the new question is if and how it is possible to change our actions to something beneficial, and less like a sci-fi movie.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we speak about ourselves in a really harsh manner. It’s the reason for a lot of people’s sadness, where they hate being a part of a world with such a "disastrous species”. However, I think this kind of language is sometimes necessary. Obviously, people should make sure to take care of their essential needs, but if there isn’t harsh criticism, those who listen based on emotions rather than statistics will continue to not care about how their choices affect the environment. If people do not feel bad about their actions, then they probably won’t change their ways.
ReplyDeleteI will say though, it’s also important to understand how amazing we are as a species. It’s like you said: we are the only species that rescues and protects other species without a direct benefit. We do so many amazing things. We should continue to understand our flaws and see what we can do better, but we should also acknowledge the ways we are great and how we can continue to be that way.