What do humans bring to the table?

[GreyCarpet]

Just a musing. Would be interesred ro hear others thoughts. What am I missing?

I was thinking this morning about a man I met a few years ago who was brought up in a small village near Chernobyl. He had been back to visit with his wife the previous year. The village had obviously been evacuated after the disaster in 1986 and the photos he showed me were really eerie. Abandoned houses with picnic tables set up outside almost untouched by the passing of time without human interference with one exception. Nature had returned and was thriving. The area was filled with lush green plants. Animals had returned.

Anyway, it just got me thinking about what humans actually bring to the table.

We know that every other creature interacts and operates within a delicate ecosystem. They manage and control their own populations when left to their own devices, land is fertile and plants grow etc

What do we bring to the table? As a species, everything we do is for our own benefit. The world would thrive without us here.

Why do we assume such authority when, we deliver so little?

I don't think we need to deliberately bring about the end of the human race, nor would I ever deny anyone the right to have a child. I do think we need to encourage people to have less children. There are not enough resources to support the human race at its current rate of expansion.

And I do think it is important we, as a whole, and as individuals, recognise and accept the devastating impact our greed has had on the planet and the creatures unfortunate enough to share it with us. We need to raise future generations to do better.

I think, to a certain extent, we are doing this. Whether it is enough remains to be seen.

That's not the point. Animals kill for food or to defend their territory, but they don't destroy the planet, as humans are doing.

It's self evident that humans are the top of the food chain and exploit the earth, just as all animals do but we go much further. Presumably we will colonise space in the next 200 years so even if we make the planet uninhabitable the human race will survive on space stations and eventually other suitable planets.

I wouldn't be too sure about humans' ability to colonize other planets. It took enormous effort and massive amounts of money to get to the moon, and in space terms it's next door.

The distances are just too vast. Even if we did, we would destroy it as we are destroying the Earth.
( Must get off Mumsnet, but I have a stomach bug and it's all I've got to do right now).

Yep, have to say, I agree with all the "fuck all' responses. Because I can't see what we contribute either.

Animals live in harmony with the rest of nature and within the natural order of thngs and, yes, that incluides the interplay between predators and prey. Whiilst humans seek to dominate, control and exploit.

We are a blight on the planet.

It was hoping that someone might come with knowledge of what we actually do contribute.

Yet we all have free will. Given the most posters here think that humans are the worst thing to happen to the planet they really shouldn't have had children.

Ahh, sorry I forgot. This mn so everything is about me.

Humans are really bad for the planet but I really want children. Earth can save itself.

@GreyCarpet

"We are a blight on the planet."

I take it you are childless.

I not why did you add to the blight?

Because I had children when I didn't really think about these things.

But my question was really more fundamental that that.

Without human activity, the rest of nature doesn't just continue, it thrives. The interplay between all other species contributes to the successful continuation of the planet.

What is our role in that?

Maybe we don't have one! But I can't see how any of the decisions made on a local, national or global scale benefit the planet. Where they do, it is only where people have chosen to act to ameliorate the damage caused by other humans.

Art and music are the only things that make us worthwhile I think. And rare unselfish acts of kindness.

Some people are just not getting this thread are they !

Humans have the power to shape and transform the world, the challenge is to do so in a way that respects the delicate balance of ecosystems and ensures the sustainability of the planet for future generations.

Nope, some people cannot understand the middle class’s obsession with wanting everyone to know how terrible they think their fellow humans are, it’s like you’re stuck in 6th from college with this ridiculous navel gazing. If this is what keeps you up at night then you have an incredibly privileged life!

It’s not like anyone is offering to remove their own blight, just post about it

We take from the table. And we take greedily, with no consideration for any other living creatures.

What do you mean by "thrives"? Do you mean without human activity there are more plants and animals around in general? Why is that better? Do plants and animals care how many of them there are?

I meant that some posters think that art and music is bringing something to the table . I was never in 6th form so is irrelevant but Calm down it's just a discussion. Nobody has a solution here .

And we don't do the dishes. We leave the table dirty.

We take more than the planet can sustain giving us, we give little thought to the welfare of other species and think ourselves superior to them. We are ruining the planet and seem utterly incapable of stopping.

Well we invented tables and the language to talk about them. Metaphors. Turns of phrase. Communication. On small hand held computers from our homes. To people anywhere in the world. The world is what you make it. Please stop making it so bloody miserable, you’re just encouraging all the other fools who think it sounds wonderfully clever to constantly criticise everything while actually doing nothing about it.

Looking at it another way, there are a lot more planets than there are intelligent species.

in its basics in nature its survival, then humans happened, then its survival for humanity, against natures creatures and the different environments. lastly its for humanity to bring order and control to the animal kingdom while advancing human civilization.

Agree with this.

I really don't like this type of thread, and the 'oh aren't we humans so horrible?' mantra. Well, I'm not horrible, and I do my best to help the planet, and most people I know aren't horrible, and do their best to help the planet. Indeed, many people are good human beings, and I think I am a good one too.

I'm not going to go into detail what I bring to the planet and what good I do, because for one, it's possibly identifying, and two, people possibly won't believe me anyway.

I do wonder if the powers-that-be said 50% of humans have to be eliminated, how many of the 'humans are scum' people would sacrifice themselves and their children, siblings, parents, partner, and friends. Would YOU sacrifice yourself and your loved ones @GreyCarpet ?

No. No you wouldn't.

I also agree with other posters that if you have children (which you apparently do,) you have already contradicted your whole point and lost your own argument. 'Oh I didn't think about all this at the time I had children' doesn't wash I'm afraid. As a few posters have said, some people love to come up with these 'aren't humans shit' musings, but never do anything to make a difference to anything!

I wouldn’t try to attribute external meaning or purpose to existence, so to ask what we bring to the table is to ask the wrong question.

However, perhaps our role is to provide consciousness to the universe - we are here to explore, discover, explain and marvel at it in a way that goes far beyond the capacity of any other living thing we’ve come across.

But where have those inventions actually got us? We're using the planets scarce resources to manufacture them and service our addiction to consumer goods.

And we're not fools for seeing the world for what it is. Yes, there's lots of good people but our behaviour is having a massive, and possibly irreversible impact on the ecosystem and the climate, on other species and our own and anyone who doesn't think that's awful really is a fool.

It's pretty much impossible for a single individual to have any impact on climate change without a government and industry that has a real commitment to drive change and support people who do want to make a difference but surely that doesn't take away our right to draw attention to it?

How do you know they are not trying to make a difference? Just because some of us think that humans are causing the worlds problems and human behaviour is shit doesn't mean we are turning a blind eye . I for one don't have any kids and no family apart from DH but I still care about future generations and do what I can to help .