Meh. Thanks to the technological and cultural advancements of the Afro-Euro-Asian human cluster, we could wipe 99% of these “threats” tomorrow if we wanted to. In fact, we did have comparable dangers in other continents in the past - we just had no qualms with killing every single one of them or burning their ecosystem to the ground, because we had no concept of “ecosystem”: everything in nature was a threat to be dealt with, and that was that. Back in the day, you could be attacked by rabid wolves while sitting in your garden! So we killed them, we hunted them down systematically until they were no longer a threat. We had terrible insects, killing and spreading diseases! So we removed all swamps and invented chemicals to massacre them. Etc etc.
Australia, for geographical reasons, simply started the process too late, when we were already getting cold feet. Now that we understand how Nature works a bit more, it’s become difficult to justify large-scale efforts to remove these threats to human life. We find it more acceptable to suffer a potential spider bite here and there, than to risk irreparable losses to the variety of life and the quality of our planet’s natural state.
If anything, the fact that Australia manages to slowly expand human footprint while still maintaining a balanced truce with our predators, is testament to the level of emotional maturity that our animal race has reached.
>Thanks to the technological and cultural advancements of the Afro-Euro-Asian human cluster, we could wipe 99% of these “threats” tomorrow if we wanted to.
We can be wiped out by some of the simplest lifeforms, and even simpler, not quite lifeforms on the planet.
> We can be wiped out by some of the simplest lifeforms, and even simpler, not quite lifeforms on the planet.
Until that actually happens, I'm gonna call that BS pessimism. Humans are waaaay more durable, persistent, clever, stubborn, and hard to kill en-masse than you are giving us credit for.
Australia, for geographical reasons, simply started the process too late, when we were already getting cold feet. Now that we understand how Nature works a bit more, it’s become difficult to justify large-scale efforts to remove these threats to human life. We find it more acceptable to suffer a potential spider bite here and there, than to risk irreparable losses to the variety of life and the quality of our planet’s natural state.
If anything, the fact that Australia manages to slowly expand human footprint while still maintaining a balanced truce with our predators, is testament to the level of emotional maturity that our animal race has reached.