And lo on Tue, 26 Feb 2008 03:03:18 -0000, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom>  
did spake, saying:

> Phil Cook wrote:
>> However it is also true to say that we evolved within a particularly  
>> stable ecosystem.
>
> Bzzzt. Thanks for playing.
>
> Which ecosystem is that? Arctic? Africa? Polynesian islands? Europe?  
> South America?
>
> Many of the disparities between human societies came about exactly  
> because of the differences in ecosystems. Europe had metal ore near the  
> surface and the eurasian continent was broadly east-west, so Europe got  
> a big jump over Africa when humans moved there.  (The latter allowed  
> people to take domesticated animals and plants with them when they  
> moved, since it was in the same temperate zone.)
>
> People have colonized everyplace in the world, wiped out most big  
> dangerous animals they came across (again, outside of Africa), and lived  
> through both heat waves and ice ages.  It's been far from stable.

Over the long term it has been stable it's only been recently (long-term)  
that we've been wiping out species and domesticating both fauna and flora  
and carrying them with us; and look at the consequences. Talk to some of  
the Australians here about the introduction of non-native species to their  
country, look at how vulnerable our crops are to disease due to their  
uniformity.

I'm not saying we can't, and haven't, adapted to short-term alterations  
what I'm saying is that logically our best chances of survival is to  
maintain a system that we know we can survive in.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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