"somebody" <x### [at] ycom> wrote:
> Even if I were altruistic and responsible to a fault, I don't see how I'd
> know whether the extinction of coelacanth (or homo sapiens, for that matter)
> would be a good thing or bad in the long run.

Well, no.  Not the coelacanth.  No one likes the coelacanth.

> It doesn't make sense to view
> far future through our extremely limited and egocentric self-righteous
> goggles.

No, it doesn't.  But on the other hand, neither does it make sense to resign
ourselves to fatalism and assume that since we can't know what's best for the
future, we can wash our hands of all responsibility.  In fact, I see taking
some of this responsibility as the antithesis of egocentrism and
self-righteousness.  Of course we can't comprehend the future, but why can't we
do our best to understand it and put future generations in a position to decide.
 The coelacanth may not be so important, but you're right--how can we know?
Preserving it is reversible; destroying it is not.  Unless the future looks
like Jurassic Park.

> Do you mourn the extinction of dinosaurs?

No.

> Do you mourn the red dwarf sun enfulging earth?

No.

> On evolutionary, geological or astronomical
> timescales, our values based on scales of a lifetime at most are
> meaningless.

I still mourn the intermediate scales.  I mourn the fact that our selfish and
careless excesses may one day make the comfortable life we've enjoyed
impossible.  Sure.  Technology will prevail, we'll overcome the challenges, and
in the end all humans will die.  In the mean time though, our careless attitude
may, for example, be enough to displace resources and cause people to starve.
If these values are really meaningless, then we could just save people the
headache of suffering and kill them off.  I come to the opposite conclusion,
though, and find that since we're inevitably doomed, we have to do what we can
to maximize both our own fulfillment in life and that of the people around
us--both in time and space.  And in my eyes, the destruction of species and the
environment seems to be contrary to that goal.

 - Ricky

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