Joined: December 30th 2007
Last Logged In: January 28th 2008 Gender: Male
Birthday: December 18th 1982
Location: Oregon
Country: United States
Education: Oregon State University, BA Sociology
In a sense
Religions do not exist as sources of truth but as a base from which people can gather messages on how to live under different conditions. A "correct" religion is one that adequately serves this function. It is not true per se, though it does offer valuable wisdom to help people guide their actions in a responsible way.
Posted by Owen on 12-30-2007 in Can more than one religion be correct?of course not
At the moment, we're the least valuable, in that we take immensely from the planet without giving back to it. Humans are capable of giving back to the planet more than what we take, and we took this path for most of our history. But for the moment we're simply killing the planet, which is of no value to anyone.
Posted by Owen on 12-30-2007 in Are humans the most valuable organisms on the planet?It's sick
We have a bar set where life is worthy of respect, and anything below that bar can be removed from its natural habitat, dismembered, tortured, and ripped to shreds for purposes as mundane as testing chemicals for shampoos. At one point some humans didn't make it over that bar. Today they do, but that doesn't mean that testing and vivisection are any less terrible then they were in the past. It just means that the victims can't talk back.
Posted by Owen on 12-30-2007 in Lab Animal Testing...To what extent is it truly necessary?Re: Re: humans are not 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...
Posted by Owen on 12-31-2007 in Are humans the most valuable organisms on the planet?Re: Re: Re: Re: humans are not the most valuable organisms on the planet
Again, you're framing what is "valuable" in your own terms. What inherent value is there in exploring or colonizing space? For that matter, what planets have we saved to date? We're quickly exterminating life on our current home, and that doesn't merit us anything but contempt. Most organisms on this planet are quite happy to engage with one another in relationships that are sustainable, and were sustainable for millions of years. For 200,000 years humans engaged in...
Posted by Owen on 12-31-2007 in Are humans the most valuable organisms on the planet?