Sixth Mass Extinction

Across endless odds we are in this point in time with the reality we perceive at this very moment, a chance out of nearly infinite, chosen by the theory of bifurcations and the concept of causality, based on our actions and choices. We are here, because we wanted to be here.

All our individual growth and civilization gains have presented us with this present reality, an event determining the future. This future is not only ours, since we are the dominant species on our homeworld, we are responsible of all life on Earth, even the planet itself. We stand here as an inevitable consequence of ourselves.

And at the moment we don’t have a clue what comes next, our plans aren’t delicate anymore, it seems we don’t have any. We lack responsibilities, even though we’ve established ourselves firmly as the most widespread species on the planet. With our actions we influence on the rapid change of the living environment. As a dominant species we’re directly hindering the evolutionary development of all other species.

Above all, with our activities we’ve marked ourselves into the geology of the planet, and henceforth starting a new epoch in its history, conveniently called Anthropocene. The fossil record is shifting rapidly to reflect human-led globalization, including: prevalence of domesticated animals over wild species and evolutionary changes seen in domesticated crops. With our self-centric behavior in the last 60 years we’ve skyrocketed extinction rates of species reaching 1000 times the rate of preindustrial periods. The evidence how we’re impacting Earth’s ecosystem are devastating: acceleration of the global warming, chemical perturbations, technofossils, radioactive fallout, ocean acidification.

And how this impacts planet’s biota? Entire families of species are threatened to become extinct this century. This will bring massive fluctuations in the food chain and pull with it other species into oblivion, triggering a mass dying event on a planetary scale.

Dear me, welcome to the Sixth Mass Extinction!

Wandering explorers

Deep within our essence we're curious drifters. At times curiosity brings our mindset to a point when we see something for the first time. Our perception is based in terms of familiarity, at first we try to categorize it somewhere in our immense library of knowledge. These unknowable ideas despite their impossibility of existence, according to our foundations of knowledge, show tendency of confusion to our perception, but on the other hand they tickle us with thrive to understand them. 

 

This pursue eventually brings alteration and growth of our knowledge, nested firmly into our imagination, wisdom and humanity. This has happened countless times so far, creating for us unique path that we've followed throughout all eons of our existence, since our dawn as species. We're not designed to stand in dark domains of ignorance, we seek to know more.

 

Along with our growth, new expectations and predictions nest within us. Our biological senses have become insufficient to satisfy our appetite for knowledge, so we've built new improved ones designed from technology. These refined senses have brought us new ideas, concepts which sometimes confirm our understanding, sometimes rattling it.

 

This quest for knowledge brings us to a point where we question our understandings of our Home World and what lies beyond it, to the endless regions of space. Some of our concepts of nature are not quite accurate. This is not a burden to be frightened of, but a challenge. Here we need to explore the full potentials of our nervous system, it is a moment when we ought to reexamine the depth within us, as well as the depth above us. We need to feel our presence and seek our place within the concept of nature.

 

This represents a starting premise in why the times we live in are so interesting. We change our perception of reality in order to find the method(s) of the creation, its meaning and development to this point in time, and its future shape(s).

 

We're a young race still trying to figure out our belonging, we have patience. 

Gaia

By studying the history of our homeworld, we’ve come to realize that it represents unity between all living organisms and their inorganic surrounding along to its inner composition down to the depths of the planet’s core. This altogether system has represented a single evolutionary undividable, interdependent and self-regulating complex organism.

 

Throughout Earth’s history many cataclysmic events had scarred our planet, and these had impacted the fragile balance of the environment, pushing it to extremes and harming life on a planetary scale. During these events it’s estimated that around 97% of all life forms that had ever existed on Earth had been irreversibly destroyed, so what we see today is just a glimpse of all species that once inhabited our homeworld. After these terrifying events, the Earth had shown a tendency toward seeking and creating balance in its total environment. The planet sought physical and chemical environment optimal for creation and development of life, by regulating the conditions in an individual or global homeostasis. This is widely known as Gaia theory.

 

It’s safe to say that life has been an intricate part of Earth and confined within its safekeeping.

 

It’s also safe to say that after the Gods and the Creation, there hasn’t been anything more narcissistic than man. Our mindset full with self-affection has taught us that we’re the most spectacular of all life forms, since we haven’t met anyone like us. Even though, we admit that some species here on Earth are more intelligent than us, the whale family, dolphin family, even octopus family. We can’t explain to this day how the octopus family got here on the planet, they’re outside of our understanding of evolution.

 

Our definition of intellect is closely connected to technological capability. This has given us the right to rule by our choices and desires, and we desire to consume. Our connection with nature is based on what we can take for ourselves. We consume out of our need for greed, we console each other that we're hungry. Fires in our passion blaze ever so harder, we need to satisfy our lusts for resources and energy. In our weakness we show inability to set a path of unity and coexistence with nature, which doesn't include our greed, hunger and thirst for conquest. Humanity comes in  waves, our intensity increases further as we increase in numbers, and our growth in numbers hasn't been accompanied by growth in intelligence. 

 

We're not quite sure that this global warming is all our doing, since the planet is exiting a glacial cycle, and warming the climate with a positive cybernetic feedback, but we're certain that with our actions we're accelerating it, and it's happening with a pace beyond the evolutionary rhythms of most of the biota.

 

The planet will eventually prevail, we’ve found evidence of this in its crust many times. And in the aftermath new life will emerge, but in the meantime all life will inevitably suffer along with us.

 

So let's stop for a minute and take a breath of this nice thick polluted air. Let's get things straight... do we expand in nature for our thirst of conquest, or do we expand to satisfy our need of curiosity?

 

We ought to realize that we need other creatures, not mirrors, because after some time, the image speaks while the man stands still in silence.