The most dependent species (Zimmer)
October 6th, 2007 | Published in Biology, Evolution, Quotes, Science | 1 Comment
It’s easy to pretend that humans are the champions of the evolutionary race, that through some kind of superiority we have won Earth for ourselves. But in fact whatever successes we enjoy depends on the balance between ourselves and the plants, animals, fungi, protozoa, and bacteria with which we have been coevolving. If anything, we are the most coevolved species that has ever existed, and depend more than any other species on the web of life.
–Carl Zimmer, Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, p. 209
October 6th, 2007 at 10:24 am (#)
(For the record, while I find this quote interesting, I’m not sure I agree — obviously we are not as dependent on the “web of life” as species who have and go extinct! Now it’s true, of course, that we’re dependent. But we’re not helplessly dependent, either, like most species.)