Human dominance is a fact, not a debate | Aeon Essays

Ultimately, it is the ideology of human supremacy that allows us to maltreat animals in factory farms, blow up mountaintops for coal, turn vibrant rainforest into monocropped wastelands, trawl millions of miles of ocean floor with nets that scoop up everything that moves—while glorying in the Anthropocene, claiming that nature only exists to serve ... See more

This answer is no longer broadly resonant, or even acceptable as a go-forward baseline in the circles that run Western civilization (ref The Davos Agenda). It’s clear that pursuit of maximal human dominance has led to widespread, intractable and potentially irreversibly negative impact on “the planet”, by which we generally mean those planetary eco... See more

We have been living a myth. We have constructed a dream. We have cajoled and seduced ourselves into believing we are the center of all things; with plants and other sentient beings from ants to lizards to coyotes and grizzly bears, remaining subservient to our whims, desires, and needs. This is a lethal lie that will be seen by future generations a... See more

Moreover, humans themselves failed to adjust. Most top predators of the planet are majestic creatures. Millions of years of dominion have filled them with self-confidence. Sapiens by contrast is more like a banana-republic dictator. Having so recently been one of the underdogs of the savannah, we are full of fears and anxieties over our position, w

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As lions became deadlier, so gazelles evolved to run faster, hyenas to cooperate better, and rhinoceroses to be more bad-tempered. In contrast, humankind ascended to the top so quickly that the ecosystem was not given time to adjust. Moreover, humans themselves failed to adjust. Most top predators of the planet are majestic creatures. Millions of y

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Mid-20th century the Western answer was easier: We exist to pursue human progress, to maximize human potential. It was about achievement in terms of technology, in terms of control and dominion over nature, over everything on the planet that isn’t human.