Is Humanity Suicidal?

Edward O. Wilson, holding the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professorship, Harvard University

N.Y. Times Magazine article, May 30, 1993

Luck of the Draw

Evolutionary argument implies that that some species will eventually develop intelligence on a planet with life.

Intelligence is an advantage in a Darwinian world of survival of the fittest.

The intelligent species will have the capability of dominating all other life.

Humanity’s Numerical Impact

Human population has doubled to 5.5 billion in last 50 years.

The population will likely double again in the next 50 years.

Never has so much protoplasm been concentrated in one species previously on this planet.

Darwin’s Dice May Have Rolled Badly for Earth. Humanity is a carnivorous primate species. Humanity had hereditary traits that

enhance our destructive impact on our environment.

Humanity is tribal, aggressively territorial, demanding space beyond minimal requirements, and driven by selfish sexual drives.

The Selfish Human

Humanity is genetically programmed to be adverse to cooperation, especially beyond the family and tribal levels.

To win the evolutionary battle, those who thought first about themselves, second about their families, third about their village, and a distant fourth about the world survived the most.

Carnivorous Humanity

Carnivores use the sun’s energy less efficiently.

Each step in the food chain roughly loses 90% of the sun’s energy (that is, 10% survives).

Grass to grasshopper to warbler to hawk, each step losing 90% of the previous step.

Human Consumption

Humanity appropriates approximately 20% to 40% of the sun’s energy that would otherwise be fixed in natural vegetation.

This includes our consumption of crops and timber, land needs for construction, and the creation of wastelands.

Everywhere, we pollute and destroy life and the environment.

Humanity is an Environmental Abnormality Intelligence in the wrong species can

produce a fatal combination for the species and the biosphere.

Intelligence in the wrong species can extinguish itself.

All of this can be determined by the nature of the genes that survive in the species.

The Juggernaut Theory of Human Nature Any intelligent species will eventually

develop a sense of global responsibility. But a genetically selfish and energy

inefficient (e.g., carnivorous) species may not change quickly enough.

The Window of Opportunity

There is a window of opportunity for any species to become globally responsible.

This time period is based on how destructive the species is to the environment.

A destructive species will have a short window. A less destructive species will have more time.

The Evolution of the Brain

Most of humanity’s evolution was based on a long stretch of time where people lived in small, pre-literate hunter-gatherer groups.

Life was precarious and short. Close attention to near-term survival

and early reproduction was the priority.

We are pre-programmed.

The human mind works comfortably backward and forward only a few years.

Our genes are biased in terms of short-term thinking

The prophets never enjoyed a Darwinian edge.

The French Lily Pond Riddle

One lily pad in a pond. The next day it doubles: two lily pads. The next day it doubles: four lily pads. The next day it doubles: eight lily pads. After 29 days, the pond is half filled. One day later, the pond is full.

Two schools of thought.

Exemptionalism Environmentalism The basic question boils down to

whether or not it is possible for any intelligent species to micromanage the biological homeostat of a planet.

How many species can we destroy and still survive ourselves?