One of the things I found interesting while writing the species paper and looking at Lloyd's rank of the top 100 species on Earth are the categories he chose to rank the species on in order to give them their overall score. His categories included:
*Evolutionary Impact
*Impact on Human History
*Impact on the Environment
*Global Reach
*Longevity
All these categories made sense to me except 1, why did he care so much about impact on human history? I was not surprised this was a category but I was disappointed. I understand that humans are in many ways the brightest species on Earth but we seem to be horrible at making good decisions. In fact, we have made many mistakes, and continue to make many mistakes, that not only effect our own species in a negative way but all other species on Earth. I am tired of people thinking humans are so great and that we are so much better than the rest of the world. If we were so great why could we not live without stable ecosystems? When it comes to wildlife management generally, it is the species at the top of the food chain that is the most disposable and humans are at the very top. If we died out I think everyone would agree that the Earth would be OK if not in a better place than it is today. Why is it so hard for humans to grasp that other species are just as important as ourselves if not more? How can people knowingly destroy the plant and not feel guilty? Where do we think we are all going to live if earth is somehow destroyed enough to not make an immediate recovery? How can we make humans see outside ourselves and begin to appreciate everything around us? If someone can answer this question than I would be forever grateful.
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ReplyDeletethink your taking this from a very pessimistic side, I think what he wanted us to find is how it has improved the lives of humans AND other species. I greatly believe that we are not the most important form of life, and we may be ranked number 6, but i find that modern day humans would not be considered that. Yes we are smart, and we know more than anything or anyone on earth, but we do make stupid decisions. I don't think humans currently are the most important, although some may think that, but when it came to evolution they were huge. He cares about human history, because that is what he is. We are all humans, of course were going to be curious about how it has impacted us, and our ancestors. Do you not think your worthy to be here? Because I am pretty happy that they found all these species that allowed me to be where I am today, but at the same time I feel like i am respectful of the animal and plant kingdom. Its just how you look at it...
ReplyDeleteI disagree with what you said. I did my paper on humans and believe that we should be ranked higher then 6. Out of the top 100 species earthworms were ranked first. They did nothing and in my opinion are not that important. I do agree with the part when you said that people we all make stupid mistakes and we are not all perfect. We are who we are for a reason and very true that it makes a big impact on how people look at things.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the reasons humans are important is because right now we have a HUGE impact on the enivronment. And I am not sure what longetivity is but compared to a lot a species each individual human lives a long time and we are certainly going to have a last effect on this earth because of how we have been treating it. We have cities everywhere. So right there is more points of global reach. Maybe hes not saying how important we are...just that that is how his system of points are. If you look at that list you can tell us humans are gonna have a pretty good affect on all of em.
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting how Lloyd gave each species is own ranking. I personally believe that they are all equally important in different ways.
ReplyDeleteI see your point, in a way. I believe that the reasoning behind Llyod choosing 'human history' is an important selection for his criteria. As humans, we are constantly looking for reasons why things are important to us. To help those individuals realize that these species have played a role in human history at some point probably shows them that this is not an irrevelant being. Though we may not be the "best" or "most important" species, his list was more for entertainment, and he wanted to get PEOPLE interested, so of course he had to include them.
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