A critical view on human dominance.
Most humans believe they can control most things around them while they have actually no clue of what's going on. We as humans believe that with our ever-advancing technologies we will control our environment around us and become less dependant on mother nature providing the things for our needs. While this might be true to some extent in the future, for now, and until we become a space-traveling civilization that can evolve independently from our home planet earth, this thinking shows the arrogance of humans as a species that is everything but in control of the environment, we are living in. If we just look at the physical abilities of the human body it becomes obvious how, even here on earth, we are NOT superior by any means. Yes, I will admit that at the end of the day, and definitely for a good reason, we as humans, evolved further than anything known to us. I will come back to that later. To compare us to other animals we first need to define the physical abilities of humans. Because our temperature boundaries are not at a clear point thanks to our technological advancements I will just define them as -40° to 50°. Yes, we can live on a space station and conduct space-walks but these people are not independent of resupply missions. They don't grow their own food, generate their own water, manufacture things they need on a big enough scale to be sustainable, which means consequently, we have to take them out of the equation for this thought experiment. Just like the scientists in the Arctic and Antarctica. In terms of the pressure limits, we pass out once the pressure drops below 57% of atmospheric pressure levels. So that would roughly be about 4.572 meters or 15.000 feet in altitude, which is equivalent to 57,18196 Kilo Pascal (0,5718196 Bar). On the downside, it is a bit tricky because we cannot really live underwater for longer periods of time. Divers can withstand up to 100 Atmospheres. But there is a catch, they don't stay down there for longer and don't breathe air. So if we just look at the capabilities of our own body, the limit is about 2,5 Bar. Of course, humans need water to exist and radiation levels should not be too high. We show symptoms of toxic radiation levels at about 500mSv/year. Anything above 4 – 5 Sv is likely to be fatal. Of course, there are many more factors going into this but if we take these stats, our life expectancy, population our actions, etc. and compare them now with some animals, the results are spectacular.
Humans are without a doubt the most dominant species on earth. But why?
There are three times fewer humans than chickens. Adding the weight of every human being together would still be lighter than the weight of every ant added together. We are not the biggest, not the strongest and we don't live the longest. Turtles can live for 200 years. Corals up to several thousand! Some jellyfish can rejuvenate themself and without enemies, they would have cracked the secret to everlasting life. A Tardigrade is perhaps the most superior animal in terms of being resilient. It can survive years in toxic and salty environments, withstand temperatures from +150° down to -270°. It can get along without food and oxygen, 1000 times higher radiation levels than we, and even the vacuum of space. It almost looks like a Tardigrade would be the perfect alien… In comparison to these, humans appear very weak. It is surprising that humans even exist considering how fragile our bodies are.
Not only the cheetah runs faster than humans, but also the warthog, the camel, and even a fly. The rhino beetle can carry 850 times his own bodyweight. For a human that would be about 65 tonnes. Sea elephants can dive 2000 meters deep and survive these 196,13 Bars. In contrast with the 2,5 Bars I mentioned above, this just looks silly to begin with. Furthermore, we cannot recognize ultraviolet, infrared light, ultrasound, electrical fields, or the magnetic field of the earth.
But as mentioned in the first paragraph, the humans are the only species which developed their brain further to solve complicated problems. But is this really the case? One example, the way we use tools to help us with a specific task is nothing unique. Not only birds or monkeys use tools, even octopuses, which have, besides their main brain, one separate brain for every arm. Most animals have something to communicate with, just like we do with our languages. Human monkeys understand sign language and can even teach it to other monkeys. So what really separates us, humans, from animals? Self-awareness? Long-term memory? Empathy, playing, or humor? No, all these things have been proven to be nothing unique and can be found in a lot of animals. 100.000 years before humans came into existence, ants invented agriculture, the breed, the Assembly-line work, and the communication networks. Most inventions by humans are just a bad copy of mother nature.
Humans are undoubtedly the best in destroying their own livelihood and everything around them. We industrialized farming but without the pollinators, all of this would not work. We are 100% dependent on the biodiversity we use and destroy at the same time. We are so insignificant for the universe, that every claim to superiority seems just laughable. As a dust particle in infinity, we are nothing special. But nonetheless, throughout our evolution, we pushed successfully back against predators, we fought hunger and illnesses to survive, evolve and conquer. We invented philosophy, art, and science. Moreover, we enhanced our thinking and our communication. We impose ourselves a moral and ethic. We gradually found trade, religion, and politics. But also hate, discrimination and torture. The exploitation of other species including our own. We trashed up the highest mountains and the deepest oceans. Every minute we give 200 babies life and produce 4.000 tonnes of trash. Every day we produce 240.000 cars and 400 living species get vanished. Every year we let 9 million living babies die a preventable death and destroy 13.000.000 ha of wild forest.
We think we control everything but we can't even control ourselves. As the only species ever, we developed the ability to destroy ourselves, without gaining the wisdom not to do that.
Will we ever grow up before we burned our own house down?
