they are not gonna decide that. are the japanese killing so many whales that the species is at risk? would you care if they could sustainably harvest the whales? are they harvesting more than the international regulations? i am aware that they are not really doing it for science. they like to eat whales. so what? also i dispute that it matters if a species goes extinct, but that is a different discussion.
Well, lets go ahead and have it because I'm sorta interested in your point of view since it differs from what I think most people believe. I know you said in previous posts that virtually every animal before us is extinct and that's true, but why are you in favor of it happening if it could be prevented? Granted, I'm not sure I'd want to take away a person's food source like whales provide to some, but baby seals are killed for fashion reasons. I'm not sure I can get behind that. And it's not just mammals either. Are California condors still endangered? Shouldn't we do what we can, within reason, to prevent the extinction of any species?
first let me say i could easily be wrong about this one. i am simply not yet convinced that i care about every species staying live. i could change my mind. do you think the world would be a better place if we had, for example, 4 times the genetic diversity we have now? how much diversity do we need? how much does it help us that there are lots of different things? evolution is enabled by extinction. if whales go extinct, some other thing will eat what they ate. perhaps the thing they ate will prosper. thats how things got so well adapted. the ones that couldnt hack it all died off and were replaced by ones that could handle it. i am sure there have been all manner of whale-like creatures, like ocean dinosaurs, that existed at one point but are not there anymore, paving the way for our modern whales. is that tragic? are we worse off for the loss of the billions of species that no longer exist? the ancient crabs or funky tall zebras or whatever other kinda wacky creatures that existed. and the number of species that are no longer exist is like 99.999%, not just 99%. pretty much every creature that ever existed is already extinct. are we screwed because we needed them? nope. now i do not dispute that whales are pretty cool, they look awesome when they jump out of the water. but is that reason enough to save them? maybe. probably. but not definitely. the passenger pigeon went extinct a while back. i dont miss them. if you were to point out that whales are cooler than passenger pigeons, i would agree. recently i was at the beach. they had all sorts of notices about preserving the precious beach mouse, the fines for smashing them and whatnot. i truly couldnt give a damn if this beach mouse went extinct. anyways i figure we can end extinction pretty soon with cloning. i figure we are gonna bring back wooly mammoths any day now. i want to ride one of those bastards.
after i posted that i started looking up mammals that are extinct. one of them is the syrian wild ass, which i think sounds like a fantastic name for a terrorist: - syrian wild ass
Well it does not happen often..matter of fact I think it has only happened once before but I gotta agree with martin on this. This is just the cycle of life we are a predator just like all the ones before us we are just better at it. If one day a genetic mutation evolved in cows that stopped them from reproducing would we all stop bbqing hambugers and steaks at our tailgates because they would become extinct....not me I would enjoy it down to that very last bite. The thing is whenever one sepices dies off eventually there is another that takes its place...even when there was mass extinctions in the history of the world life found a way to renew itself and keep going. And as far as I can tell there is only 1 thing that would cause the complete and udder extinction of life on this planet and thats the sun when it goes through the final stages of its life. Until then life will go on in one form or another and we have absolutly no control over it! Play what if......What if the whales in their process of feeding is killing an organism that if giving the chance could produce an enzyme that could cure cancer or AIDS..would it be ok then for the whales to become extinct?
Not in geologic time. Species emerge, evolve, and go extinct. The problem is that humans have greatly affected natural systems so that natural evolutionary processes are impacted in our time. Humans have directly and indirectly caused the extinction of 25% of the worlds species. Much of this is a consequence of our very existence and canot be helped, but much of it was conscious exploitation of a limited resource and could have been prevented. Possibly. The orchid that excretes a substance that might cure cancer but went extinct is a severe loss to humans. The whales may offer some essential component that is vital to humans some day. Killing them for sushi is counterproductive. Preserving diversity of species is important to maintaining natural habitats, not just for animals, but for us.
are we worse off now without the dodo bird? did we need the syrian wild ass? why would it be that the creatures that take their place are not helpful? why is there this belief that a certain time is perfect, and any change hurts things? all throughout time, animals have come and gone. how exactly does the existence of a whale help us? sure it looks cool and japs like the taste, but beyond that?
Yes Yes. What creature took their place? It's a balance thing. You wouldn't understand. Are you stupid? They keep the alien space probes away.
