I have created this thread in response to some provocative discussions on the "On Pessimism - Why Struggle When Failure is Likely" thread, regarding the role of humanity and it's existence on planet earth.
(1) Some environmentalists consider humanity as an infection of the planets biosphere that should be cured.
(2) Others think that they are an essential co-existing part of the biosphere.
On a hypothetical basis I would like to discuss the likelihood of the the survival of our biosphere should humanity be relatively spontaneously:
a) Mass evacuated
b) Struck down by pestilence, disease, war, radiation or famine etc
Given that:
i) Nuclear requires human inter-generational control & maintenance for depot's, warheads and power stations (as to avoid situations like Chernobyl or Fukushima from decimating non-human populations with radiation from plutonium with a half life of 24,100 years)
ii) Fossil fuel drilling and manufacture needs humans for control and maintenance (to avoid contamination from events like BP Gulf of Mexico spill etc)
iii) Any other major human development or effect that would need to be shutdown or maintained after humanities exit (from seed dispersal, livestock, waterways, to chemistry plants etc)
Feel free to include any discussions including:
The morality of the first statement, the physicality of the second statement, the feasibility of evacuation or who would get to go, or the consequences of disease or other disaster, the required time to bring our worldly affairs in order and/or it's cost before we can exit the planet cleanly, the impact of humanity on the biosphere and the extent of remediation that would be necessary and so on.
I hope to list arguments that supports either statement (1) or (2) without prejudice.
Thank you in advance for your participation.
Regards
JB
Edit:
In light of some confusion regarding my number formatting I have changed points 1)-3) to i)-iii). The statements I am seeking responses from are (1) and (2) at the top of the post, based on the then following "hypothetical" mass removal, and "technical complications" of such a human removal to the "biosphere" (ie everything living on the planet, not the planet itself).
Sorry for the confusion. Thx.