Another Animal Species Extinct

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As more and more animals are becoming extinct, and as more and more of the environment is being destroyed, we're actually saving our own lives from becoming extinct by trying to stomp on the metaphorical brakes to stop any further extinction. The more species disappear, the less likely that the long term survival of our species is certain.
Who says various species suffer? Sure, they do at times, but other times they're content. I have to think that mass extinction couldn't be anything other than mass suffering.

Florida can't really afford a cane toad epidemic, they are nearly impossible to eradicate once they get released.

Interesting that you have changed the context from the purely philosophical.
I'd prefer to stick with the original thrust of my introduced area of philosophical interest, if I may.

Premise: Life has no inherent meaningfulness.
Premise: Life is not a "blessing", It is a burden.
Premise: All complex organisms suffer.
Premise: Natural selection is a biatch.
Premise: Human interference is self indulgent.
Premise: The species is not life-defining/essential for human existence.
Premise: Contentedness at one stage is not adequate compensation for the agony experienced during that lifetime.

Conclusion:
Breathing life into an endangered species is:
A. The continuation of suffering.
B. Pointless suffering.
C. It is an indulgence which merely satisfies the emotional needs of those staving off the extinction of that species.
D. Real compassion, ‭for that species, would involve letting go.

I have often wondered about the accumulation of suffering throughout the millions of years, where complexed organisms have been in existence.
And I ask myself:
If the earth was hit by a planet-killing asteroid,
What was the point of all this suffering?

You have children, I believe.
I imagine that would skew your thinking towards a more positive disposition.
This was one of the points I originally implicitly posed to MissLizard:
The influence of personal circumstance.

Misplaced kindness,
From my POV.

By all means,
Care for our beautiful creatures,
It's the perpetuation of misery I have a problem with.

In principle/desire, I'm a vegan.
In practice, I am a hardcore carnivore.

However,
I would welcome the extinction of any organisms that are purely bred to be harvested/devoured.
It is a very distasteful practice, pun intended.
Part of the abomination of life. <shrug>

If existence is so miserable, why the natural instinct to not only survive, but also to procreate?

You tell me.
I'm not the one who has a child.
I have never in my life had the desire to sire one.

Could you walk us through how/why you procreated?
Intimate details are optional.

The following is stating the obvious,
And I have touched on this many times.

Most people are at the mercy of 2 main factors:
1. Instincts as a result of the evolutionary process.
2. Social conditioning.

Will this suffice,
Or do you want me to elaborate?

Hmm ... you are starting to sound like the main character (Esther) in the movie "Orphan." Put them out of their misery, right? And my question to you would be: "What's wrong with you?" Ha ha.

I see a lot of inability to reason here. Everything has been explained, but it's a bit "advanced." https://wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=383945&start=10. If I recall correctly, you have called my posting "a rather odd tangent." Yet, you are the one that keeps going back to that subject. Ha ha.

Remember about HIV/AIDS? Mother Nature has made about 1% of human population immune to the effects of HIV. Today we have medicine, but in the old days, 99% of human population would be wiped out. And guess what? Every generation afterwards would be HIV-resistant. That is the way Mother Nature handles things.

Similarly, you have flipped the direction of causality quite a bit in your reasoning. See, the great thing about genetic diversity (and that is why there are 250 million sperm meeting one egg), is that it increases the chance of survival, not of the individuals, but of the species. Human genetics, being diverse, will create anomalies from time to time (think of cancer). One such anomaly is a whole bunch of people finding life meaningless, so they don't procreate. But guess what? Mother Nature fixes this problem pretty quickly, just like the hypothetical case of HIV/AIDS without medicine. Once these purposeless people are gone, what remains is a future generation, that feels like life has a purpose. Right? In this case, Mother Nature is the one putting those purposeless people out of their misery.

The existence of death, generations, evolution itself, with extinction of species (or subspecies, like purposeless people), and the arising of concepts of good and evil, all that, is aimed at "maximizing potential future entropy, given available resources" as described in Alex Gross-Wissner's "equation of intelligence." It's all in there. My point is, life might be purposeless to some people, but please do not generalize to other people. Anybody is welcome to be part of their own endangered (sub)species, but please do not generalize.

Nope.
As I said above:


It's the breeding part which continues the suffering.

You made it quite clear from the very first post that you had an antagonistic attitude towards me.
And so it continues. <chuckle>

I'm not really into pissing competitions,
And I am not an alpha male type,
So, I think you are wasting your time and effort trying to establish dominance.

Here,
You win.
You are so much smarter than me.
I'm OK with that.
I'm more into personal growth rather than social hierarchicalism.




Yes,
The subject of perpetual suffering is an interest of mine.
The irony here is that my tangent in this thread is less of a tangent than usual. <chuckle>

Your post became "odd" when it became clear that is was more to do with your attempting to diminish my status,
And promoting your superiority.
People can refer back to it to confirm the validity of my statement.



Yes,
Nature and natural selection is a biatch.
Darwin was appalled also.

And your statement doesn't change my *opinion* about the inherent/ultimate irrelevance of a species, including our own.
Please refer to Richard Dawkin's book: "The Selfish Gene".
You can blame him, in part, for my philosophical bent.



Please elaborate.

I am saying:
Where there is complex life,
There is suffering.
And I personally find it pointless.
A fairly simple concept, I would have thought.



What is left behind are people less sensitive to the misery in the world.
It is nature's coping mechanism.
And that is how natural selection works.
It weeds out the "weak" from the gene pool.
I am happy to step back and let you emotionally strong types take over.
What's it to me?

To quote Sheldon's mother:
"Looks like we butchered a pig, but nobody wanted bacon."




I think there is a contextual misunderstanding here.
I am not saying there isn't purpose in people's lives.
I am saying there is no inherent, quintessential purpose in life.

I embrace existentialism to some degree, in addition to other philosophies.
I define my own "Man-Made" purpose in life.
I am the Oracle of Truth, after all.
But that is using a personal subjective context,
Not an all-encompassing one.

Yes,
You have made it quite clear that you think you are very intelligent.
"Good for you." <chuckle>
I don't have a problem with that.
I just think it odd that you feel a need to try and put me in my place.

If you don't like my philosophical investigative, err, investigations,
Avert your eyes.
I believe I am still entitled to my opinions, atm, here in oz.

Oh for goodness sake! Jason is one of the nicest people here on WP and a fellow NT parent. Please stop trying to make personal attacks on posters who are making an effort (and probably wasting their precious time) trying to educate you.

Because the act leading to procreation feels so damn good! That's one of the examples of "not suffering" during existence.

Not only is he a very nice person,
He is very intelligent also.
Don't you forget about that.



I don't need NTs educating me.
And I wasn't the one who was casting aspersion.
I am merely defending my turf from unwanted intrusion.

BTW,
Why the influx of NTs?
There are billions of NT websites you guys could go to.
I specifically, repeat specifically, come here to be with my peers.

Uh... if that's a reference that includes me, I will state here and now that I have an official diagnosis for being on the autistic spectrum.

Sex is too personal to be shared with another person.
A porn site subscription, Misses Palmer and her 5 daughters is a much more sensible relief system, imo.
Well,
For some of us, at least.

And far cheaper,
With less need for the compromising of one's lifestyle.

Evolution has done an effective job on you,
And your genetic coding shall: "Inherit the Earth".

Alas,
Using an evolutionary context,
I am a failure and will be lost in the infinity of time well before the red sun engulfs the earth,
Which will also be lost in the infinity of time.

No,
I always thought you were one of us, one of us.