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Comment by esarbe | Hacker News Reader

It's an unfortunate consequence of our biology. We're not thinking machines, we reproduction machines. Thinking was never even tacked-on, it just was just a side-effect from our (quite amazing) capability to abstract and model the systems around us to make predictions about them. The monkey systems around us.

So, all in all it's not surprising that we lack the necessary algorithms to correctly deal with the dangers that come from being a species that found the ultimate exploits in the game of life.

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There's also the unfortunate belief that "earth was created for our use", which blesses the exploitation of all available resources.

This idea has floated around since well before industrialization, but the negative effects were localized until then.

So we're simple reproduction/consumption machines -- and that is our highest calling. Woe be to those who would disagree.

Well, it's romantic to think that there's a higher calling for humankind. And I guess that for the story-telling narrator in our head who is interpreting and commenting the events unfolding in front of our eyes, it's just impossible to not treat the entity harboring it as very, very special, unique and bestowed with destiny.

The Earth does not belong to us, rather we belong to the Earth. The Earth is more important than we are, we should put the Earth's needs ahead of our own needs. We must stand up for the rights of the Earth, or else human rights will be impossible to maintain.

Great comment.

Just wondering what you meant by this phrase:

> The monkey systems around us.

I consider to be very convincing the theory that most of our capacity for reasoning actually revolves around the modeling of other humans' thought processes. Together with language (which allows us to 'groom' many people at once, where individuals from other ape species have to groom each other one by one. Grooming as in 'interact to bond and build cooperative associations') it has allowed for incredible cooperative achievements.

So; monkey systems -> other humans, albeit flippantly.

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