The Luckiest Species on Earth

by Terence A Anthony


Regardless if you believe that our status was conferred by a deity or we got here by being the pinnacle of evolution (so far), you’d have to admit that we are the luckiest species on Earth.

Consider it for a second. Unlike other species on Earth, our survival is not contingent on another species. As cute as pandas are, we are maintaining their numbers. Rhinos are being safely guarded by members of the human race. Rhinos are probably not even aware that they are close to extinction. Anytime someone can shoot a rhino and it will significantly impact a percentage of their species. Even the most fearsome animal out there, the lion has to rely on our mercy. We were the ones responsible for inventing guns and other murder objects. It is only us who have the capabilities to stop someone from pulling the trigger.

Unlike other species on Earth, there is no other species there to keep us in check. In the animal kingdom, if there is an overpopulation of a species one solution is to cull them. As much as I oppose the idea, there are people who think that is the moral choice. For example, rabbits are an invasive species in Australia. They’re not native there and they don’t have any natural predators. They fucked a lot and that’s where the term “fuck like rabbits” came from. To curb them destroying other species, we humans have to stop their decadent ways and reduce their numbers. We will never see that with humans. Sure, China may want to limit the number of children a family may have and Indonesia will soon follow that policy. However, you don’t see another species disciplining our species. Even then, our morality has gone beyond the idea of starving other humans to death.

Unlike other species on Earth, no one is going to disturb us from using all our resources, except ourselves. No other species will kill us when we strip away a patch of forest or burn them down to start oil plantations. Sure, there will ecological impacts. Sure, our air way won’t be clean after. However, with human ingenuity, all the scarcity that we created would lead to more opportunity. That’s the beauty of this system man has created, capitalism. No more clean air? Well, time to sell you that can of fresh air in Beijing! Everything is commercialized, sold so that we can burn more forest and profit off more our problems.

Unlike other species on Earth, we also have the capability to correct our course. We can either find a way to fix this Earth or produce Elon Musk like character to bring our species to the next level. Maybe we’ll populate Mars. Then we’ll be the luckiest species there too. Maybe we’ll build cloud cities on Venus. Who knows? Some people think it’s a better alternative. Now that this Earth is in shambles because of our recklessness, then maybe we can squeeze a buck or two from those suffering. We can get to buy land in Australia when their island nations sink underneath the sea. It’s like Atlantis, if Atlanteans can afford to move to higher ground. I’m pretty sure many did, if the continent actually existed. The good part about capitalism (and yes, with the help of state subsidies), solar panels, nuclear power plants and dams are cheap enough that we don’t have to burn coal anymore. No more of that primitive energy source and pandering by Senator Mitch McConnell. Thanks to capitalism, maybe it’s more profitable for us to close down the Keystone XL pipeline.

Unlike any other species, we’re lucky.