• bobman@unilem.org
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    1 year ago

    This might sound weird, but I feel we focus too much on extinction of species and not enough on the creation of new ones.

    Yeah, it takes way longer, but this is just how evolution works. Some species die out, others come to take their place. It never stands still.

    I’m not saying this is good or bad. It just is.

    • mint_tamas@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Human caused extinction is extremely accelerated compared to species going extinct due to environmental changes like ending an ice age. It it also extremeley recent, compared to billions of years of evolution. So on one hand you have highly accelerated extinction in practically a blink of an eye (consider the last few hundred years or maybe few thousand if you go back to wooly mammoths - still a blink compared to billions). On the other hand, new species are not created by humans and it’s still widely science fiction to even consider the possibility.

      • bobman@unilem.org
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        1 year ago

        On the other hand, new species are not created by humans and it’s still widely science fiction to even consider the possibility.

        Right, partially. Any new species that arise (which they will) will be a result of their environment. In many ways, it can be in spite of humans rather than because of them. As in, the traits that are more fit to resist our expansion will have a better chance at being passed down.

        • mint_tamas@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Sure, but that’s not us creating new species. And evolving a species that is selected for thriving alongside humans does not happen in a few thousand years. So what you are proposing doesn’t make sense. We absolutely, crucially need to try and avoid killing off species because the lost biodiversity has dire implications.

          • bobman@unilem.org
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            1 year ago

            I’m not ‘proposing’ anything. I’m just describing the world we live in.