- Anything Else -

99% Extinct, huh?

Posted by: Cynic ( Persons Against Statistics Abuse ) on April 17, 1999 at 10:14:35:

I remember viewing in a post a while down that 99% of the species to live on this planet were instinct, with an implication that it should be of great concern to me.

Well I suppose on the face of it that seems forceful..

but is it really?

One must question oneself: "Have those 99% of species been around on this planet since the first life form appeared?" No. They came later... and thousands of them died (read: went EXTINCT) before our earliest human ancestors ever sprang forth from the fray. We've occupied this planet for only a very short part of its history, and only until VERY recently have we become so effecient at destroying it that we pose any threat to it on a global scale at all.

So even if it is an empirical fact that 99% of species which once existed on this planet are gone, you still won't find me caring. I'm not taking the blame for the comet that killed most plant and animal life 65 million years ago... (a large chunk of the extinction percentage, I'll wager) and the claim that I should be feel guilty or even concerned about (with the 99% anecdote) is both laughable and annoying.

99% huh? Yawn.

- C.




Follow Ups:

The Debating Room Post a Followup