In response to: definition again

This is a point that has been made before, but I think it is important enough to be repeated. Crucial to this debate is the definition of the word "valuable." We all have a pretty good idea of what "valuable" means. Gold is valuable. Friendship is valuable. Shelter is valuable. The obvious question is "valuable to what?" And, the assumed answer is "valuable to a people." The only meaningful way to judge some object's value, especially if no "to what" is specified, is in its relationship to people. With this view of the posed question, there is no question that human beings are the most valuable organisms. Wouldn't you say that a situation where you or everyone you cared about did not exist would be a situation of very little value to you?

At this point you may be thinking that I am making this perhaps quite complex or deep issue too lightly by making it a matter of semantics. Perhaps that is the case, but my argument implies a more fundamental idea, that human beings are the most important organisms on the planet. And, that is the question being asked here. Certainly we are not going judge the value of human beings or anything else to the rock that we live on or to the bacteria in the soil. We could, however, judge the value of human beings to some other animal species. But now, for which species should we judge the value of things to: the clear answer is the most important species. And that species is homo sapiens. It perhaps reasonable to say that there is something most important to a great number of animal species. The clear answer to this response would be some species that can photosynthesize. But which species of plant is the most important? Scientists believe that ancient bacteria are responsible for the current oxygen-rich atmosphere, but which species of bacteria are most responsible? Each single species is only responsible for a small part of the current life-supporting environment of the earth. With, this sum set of conditions, and the kind of philosophy that we all live our lives with, it can only be concluded that human beings are the most important and thus most valuable species.