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Re: fHuman vs. natural influences on the environment
In article <4utmb9$6sc_004@pm3-146.hal-pc.org>, charliew <charliew@hal-
pc.org> writes
>>It may be impossible to alter these changes, but it seems to
>make more
>>sense to at least try to do something reasonable, rather
>than just let
>>nature (or "the market") take its course.
>>Best wishes,
>>Jim Scanlon
>>
>
>As I replied in an email message to you, most of the species
>that have ever existed are now extinct, and they went extinct
>before man ever walked on this planet. We shouldn't
>deliberately drive species to extinction, but we also
>probably should not intervene to prevent species from going
>extinct that are not fit for survival.
>
>A good example of this is the cheetah in Africa. Scientific
>American ran an article on this species, in which it was
>noted that their genetic diversity is very small, and they
>are currently experiencing reproductive problems. This
>species is probably not fit to survive long term, and it may
>not even be possible for us to ensure this if we wanted to.
>In other words, how would some researcher go about
>introducing enough beneficial "defects" in their genome to
>ensure enough genetic diversity to take care of this species
>over geologic time frames? We have no way of knowing the
>answer to this one without being able to anticipate what kind
>of future adaptive pressure they will face, nor do we have
>the expertise to modify their genes.
Just a small point here Charliew, if your are talking about a species
that has painted itself into a corner by specific environment
requirements (it only eats ONE herb and requires a unique temperature to
survive) then OK.
But what if the environmental change we are talking about is say a 1%
drop in available O2 in the atmosphere.
That would have *some* effect on ALL air breathing creatures.
We are no longer talking species, we are taking large groups of species,
and a serious ( possibly runaway) imbalance in the total system
Best wishes Jim
Jim Barr Machine Conversation, Bedfordshire England
Best is the enemy of good enough
Leaves Rustle....Blades turn..... Water moves
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