Monday, October 5, 2015
Posted in
Life
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Science
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PBS is presently showing a program about Edward Osborne Wilson, a famous American biologist and naturalist. During the show, my jaw dropped when Wilson described an experiment that he had conducted. He and some other scientists tented several islands in the Florida Keys and pumped in poisons to kill all the insect and animal life on the islands, and then they studied the islands as the insects and animals reasserted themselves. In an attempt to ward off criticism, Wilson said in the show that the islands were just a few among thousands. But Wilson doesn't understand that life is a precious thing, and that no one should snuff it out for such a minor reason as research. Human knowledge is not important enough to destroy life on a wholesale scale.
Human beings are chauvinists. We fancy ourselves to be the most superior of all beings. We even imagine that we may be the most advanced creatures in the universe. Wilson must be an atheist; otherwise, he wouldn't feel free to destroy life on such a scale. In my view there is a God, and I don't believe that God would condone wanton killing for any reason, even for a supposedly good purpose.
People like Wilson scare me. The conceit of a man who would kill so many creatures is boundless. Nothing is sacred to him. If Wilson had been a German scientist during World War II, he would have been delighted to have so many concentration-camp prisoners to experiment on. Wilson is the epitome of selfishness because only his own needs, desires and knowledge are important to him.
The understanding that life is sacred is an intuitive thing. Either you have that awareness, or you don't. If I were to say these things to him, I'm sure he would be dismissive. His research, after all, has brought him fame and stature, and in his self-centered mind, those things justify whatever means he employs to get them.
I'll be the first to admit that I am not perfect in this area. I eat meat, though eating meat is natural for human beings, who are omnivorous (I do worry about the cruel way that farm animals are treated). I've put cats to sleep that were ill. I've killed ants, fleas, roaches and mice that were infesting my home. But in each case I felt bad about what I was doing, and I never killed on a large scale. The killing of animals and insects is something we have to do on occasion to keep our lives in order. The point is that we should kill only when necessary, and as little as possible. But that is not what Wilson did. His killing had nothing to do with protecting the quality of his life. Tenting and fumigating those islands undoubtedly killed billions of insects and tens of thousands of rodents, frogs, snakes, lizards and other small creatures. Wilson showed us all just how monstrous the human psyche can be when it isn't moored by empathy and humility.
Human beings are chauvinists. We fancy ourselves to be the most superior of all beings. We even imagine that we may be the most advanced creatures in the universe. Wilson must be an atheist; otherwise, he wouldn't feel free to destroy life on such a scale. In my view there is a God, and I don't believe that God would condone wanton killing for any reason, even for a supposedly good purpose.
People like Wilson scare me. The conceit of a man who would kill so many creatures is boundless. Nothing is sacred to him. If Wilson had been a German scientist during World War II, he would have been delighted to have so many concentration-camp prisoners to experiment on. Wilson is the epitome of selfishness because only his own needs, desires and knowledge are important to him.
The understanding that life is sacred is an intuitive thing. Either you have that awareness, or you don't. If I were to say these things to him, I'm sure he would be dismissive. His research, after all, has brought him fame and stature, and in his self-centered mind, those things justify whatever means he employs to get them.
I'll be the first to admit that I am not perfect in this area. I eat meat, though eating meat is natural for human beings, who are omnivorous (I do worry about the cruel way that farm animals are treated). I've put cats to sleep that were ill. I've killed ants, fleas, roaches and mice that were infesting my home. But in each case I felt bad about what I was doing, and I never killed on a large scale. The killing of animals and insects is something we have to do on occasion to keep our lives in order. The point is that we should kill only when necessary, and as little as possible. But that is not what Wilson did. His killing had nothing to do with protecting the quality of his life. Tenting and fumigating those islands undoubtedly killed billions of insects and tens of thousands of rodents, frogs, snakes, lizards and other small creatures. Wilson showed us all just how monstrous the human psyche can be when it isn't moored by empathy and humility.
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