Human dominance is a fact, not a debate | Aeon Essays
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Human dominance is a fact, not a debate | Aeon Essays
First, rather than narrowly self-interested we are social and reciprocating. Second, in place of fixed preferences, we have fluid values. Third, instead of isolated we are interdependent. Fourth, rather than calculate, we usually approximate. And fifth, far from having dominion over nature, we are deeply embedded in the web of life.
Humanity no longer looks at itself with quite as much unabashed admiration as it once did. Fewer people today believe that we are made in God’s image or have any natural rights to dominion over the earth. We are aware of our capacity for self-destruction,
If we are to address the wholesale despoliation of the planet, and our growing helplessness in the face of vast computational power, then we must find ways to reconcile our technological prowess and sense of human uniqueness with an earthy sensibility and an attentiveness to the interconnectedness of all things.