| The
Biggest Picture |
October
2002 |
The Future of Life, by Edward O. Wilson
Dr. Wilson's latest work is a shorter and more accessible effort
than his tome Ants (his greatest field of expertise) and
Sociobiology (probably his most important work to date). However, as the
title suggests, he packs a great deal into a small amount of space.
His
chief concern is the damage that Homo Sapiens as a species does to the
planet's biosphere. To that end, he discusses the Sumatran Rhino, Gondwanaland,
ABT-594 (a pain-killer derived from South American tree frogs), and he does it
in such a way that non-biologists can follow his argument.
In short,
humans do immense harm to any new environment we enter because we are such
successful predators. He is careful to identify the problem not as modernity but
humanity. The megafauna of Australia, he notes, were wiped out shortly after the
arrival of aboriginal people -- over 40,000 years ago.
To many of us,
saving the environment is a priority only if it costs nothing. To Wilson, the
problem is that we can't save much of it because it is already to late -- and if
we don't try to save all that remains, we run the risk of saving nothing at all.
The greatest problem is that we lack the institutions to make it happen. Wilson
hopes that non-governmental agencies and the wealthiest of the wealthy will take
care of some of it, but I fear he is clutching at straws.
The good news
is that life will carry on. Historically, it has a way of undergoing explosive
growth after mass extinctions as new species take over previously occupied
ecological niches. The bad news is that our species appears to be
counterproductive by nature.
Order
The Future of Life.