Lou, You imply that you believe my previous assertion is false, but you do not say why. *"Who would not feel guilty for snuffing out the last member of a species, knowing that it took millions of years to evolve, and that it would now, by an act of arrogance, disappear from the universe forever?"* Well, plenty of people. It is a small minority of the world's population that has the luxury of entertaining sophisticated ideas of conservation and evolution. Your idea and mine of conserving the last bit of forest in Haiti or Vietnam is very different from what the local population believes, especially if they are trying to feed their families by living off the land. I've known such people and they may well be aware of the importance of conservation, but that does not take precedence over survival. I don't think their viewpoint is false (or dangerous) and neither is ours. Dylan On 19 January 2013 16:39, lou jost <loujost@yahoo.com> wrote: > Dylan, I think it is dangerous to hold beliefs just because they suit our > conservation strategies, or because they make us feel good. We should try > to believe things because they are true. > > I think the evolutionary picture, which is well-enough supported that > we think it is true, provides a very powerful motivation to save > biodiversity. Under this view, plants and non-human animals have just as > much a right to exist as we do. In this view, humans are not the endpoint > of creation, and animals and plants are not merely our servants, not merely > made for our entertainment. On the contrary we now know that we are animals > just like them, they are complex beings not qualitatively different from > us, we are kin to all of them, and we are riding this ship together. Who > would not feel guilty for snuffing out the last member of a species, > knowing that it took millions of years to evolve, and that it would now, by > an act of arrogance, disappear from the universe forever? > Lou > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >