Fascinating and informative in equal measure! We consider this era as one where the tetrapods rule, but that's a bit presumptuous and chauvinistic of us. What's a few hundred million years? No doubt the Ediacarans might have thought (had they brains) that they ruled the roost in their time. The true managers of the biosphere for the last few billion years have been the bacteria. But they are modest and engaged in their eternal war with the phages. We tetrapods are just a sideshow! 🙂
Why, thank you! As to the 8 billion of us! Too many! Perhaps we can reverse the giantism our species has been falling into (a similar thing happened to the dinosaurs) and use selective gene editing to reduce our body mass/height by 60%. That will buy us a little delay time before the arable land hectare per individual ratio gets perilously low. Side benefit (beside putting off mass starvation,) would be using less nonrenewable resources per capita. In any case it's likely we'll all wind up crowded in the circumpolar regions in the next 150 years or so as cascading effects render a lot of the planet uninhabitable! Or alternatively, paddling our mega rafts around in an endless tropical sea. So much for the land mammals!
As you can see, I'm in an optimistic frame of mind!
Fascinating and informative in equal measure! We consider this era as one where the tetrapods rule, but that's a bit presumptuous and chauvinistic of us. What's a few hundred million years? No doubt the Ediacarans might have thought (had they brains) that they ruled the roost in their time. The true managers of the biosphere for the last few billion years have been the bacteria. But they are modest and engaged in their eternal war with the phages. We tetrapods are just a sideshow! 🙂
As a microbiologist by training, your comments speaks to my heart! Take care. 😊
Why, thank you! As to the 8 billion of us! Too many! Perhaps we can reverse the giantism our species has been falling into (a similar thing happened to the dinosaurs) and use selective gene editing to reduce our body mass/height by 60%. That will buy us a little delay time before the arable land hectare per individual ratio gets perilously low. Side benefit (beside putting off mass starvation,) would be using less nonrenewable resources per capita. In any case it's likely we'll all wind up crowded in the circumpolar regions in the next 150 years or so as cascading effects render a lot of the planet uninhabitable! Or alternatively, paddling our mega rafts around in an endless tropical sea. So much for the land mammals!
As you can see, I'm in an optimistic frame of mind!