>>4. Man's acts are anti-nature.
FALSE. Since Man is a part of nature, Man's actions are not outside of nature. Well, okay, man may be natural because he is a part of nature, but certainlyt there is his better, higher nature and then his most base, instinctual nature. It seems that a natural being would want to live naturally, which would mean in nature, which would mean he cannot at the same time destroy the natural environment.<<
A complex question. It is true that man is a part of nature and that therefore all of his works and activities can be considered a part of nature. On the other hand it is also clear that man has transcended nature in a way that no other animal has and can control his environment. And is radically altering his environment. So we must carefully define what we mean by nature in this discussion. I would have to disagree that man's instinctual nature is his most base nature. If you compare hunter gatherers with 20th century man, it is very easy to make the case that modern "civilized" man (over 100m killed in wars in the 20th century alone) is a chilling example of man's "most base nature."
>>5. The earth is becoming overpopulated.
FALSE. That only seems true if you live in congested urban areas. I disagree here, Terry. We are not stacked right on top of each other yet, but our huge population has stressed the earth's natural systems greatly. I think most scientists would also disagree with you!<<
Overpopulation is the biggest threat facing human beings and the ecology. This is very clear. Those who think we can trash the the earth and then move on to outer space are suffering from supreme anthropocentrism and hubris. It may be possible to terraform other planets or it may be impossible or simply beyond our means. No one knows. But it is a very long ways away. We can count on it for nothing.
>>6. Man is creating an environmental disaster.
FALSE. We are at the rudimentary stage of restructuring the earth to suit our needs. Well, the earth suited our needs fine until there became too many of us, and we did not respect what we had, and despoiled it. What is your guarantee that your earth restructuring will work flawlessly and timelessly? Once you are playing with such forces, one small mistake--an errant microbe or something--could destroy everything.<<
At this point we really don't know just what sort of disasters we may be creating. But there is some strong preliminary evidence. We have nowhere near the knowledge we need to restructure the earth to our needs, even if such arrogance were possible. We don't even agree on what these needs are. Our ignorance is far more compelling than our knowledge. Ultimately we are like dust in the wind before the forces of nature and the universe, but that is on a larger time scale. Neither an errant microbe nor global thermonuclear war could destroy everything, although the latter could certainly do tens of thousands of years of damage.
>>8. There are some things Man is not meant to know.
FALSE.<<
IMO, it is not a question of what we are MEANT or not meant to know. There are some things we cannot know, some things that are beyond the powers of human knowledge and perception. The sacred is one of those things, altho we can experience aspects of it. What happens after death is another. |
