Re: Re: humans are not the most valuable organisms on the planet

Posted by Owen on 12-31-2007 in Are humans the most valuable organisms on the planet?

Probably the most consideration in evaluating any organism is its relationships with other organisms. If you ignore that aspect of things this question is meaningless. Sure, humans are valuable from the perspective of humans. A serial killer might be valuable from the perspective of that serial killer. But I don't see why we should dismiss the evaluations of say, the families victimized by that killer.

Salal is valuable from the perspective of salal, salmon are important from the perspective of salmon, etc. So even if you choose not to compare these species against one another (which turns the question into an absurdity) these species are still of equal value to human beings.

Whereas if we adopt a comparative perspective, something like phytoplankton (which provides half of the planet's oxygen) is immensely valuable to the planet and its inhabitants.

Responses:

In response to: Re: humans are not the most valuable organisms on the planet

"i can comfortably say this because we cause the most harm to the planet of all of the organisms, thus negating any value we might actually have."

I don't understand this comment. The question is if we are the most valuable organisms ON the planet, not FOR the planet. Your argument seems to be that just because we don't improve the earth (at this present time) we are not valuable. I disagree. To use an analogy; if I drank chlorine it certainly would not be the most valuable thing TO me in my system, but it doesn't negate the value that chlorine has. Basically, my argument is that just because we aren't necessarily valuable TO the planet doesn't mean we aren't valuable organisms.

I really think we should change this question entirely because it seems to be throwing people off. The "on the planet" attachment at the end seems to be leading everyone to answer from an environmental perspective. The same question that is being asked could instead by phrased "Are humans the most valuable organisms?" It is the exact same question but it doesn't lead one towards a response dealing with earth.

I'd be interested in seeing people respond to that.