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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 16, 2024

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I think one key fact is that the central example of a human-extincted species is some bug living only on one type of tree in the rain forest, and the central type of domesticated species is perhaps the goat, whose precursor today lives in a region from the south of Turkey to Pakistan. Or take the genus Oryza from which rice was derived is found in Africa, Asia, South America, Australia.

Classical targets for domestication are generalists who thrive under a wide variety of conditions. Of course, for luxury food we might domesticate less resilient plants such as cocoa (which was doing ok in South America but can not really claim being native on multiple continents) or spices or drugs.

The other thing is that we don't have a long memory. I am sure that there are some wild species which the Romans found so tasty that they ate them to extinction, but 2000 years on, hardly anyone ever complains about not being able to eat them. As you say, capitalism goes on, and if I can't buy the tastiest bananas any more, I sure want the next tastiest.

In general, I would say that there is a big difference accidentally between extincting a domestic species through monoculture+infection and the typical 'depraved-heart' extinction of a wild species through loss of habitat. I am sure that the former can happen to specific cultivars, but are unlikely to affect the important staples where we have some diversity. I place the odds of a virus which wipes out all domestic rice plants at even lower odds than a virus which wipes out all the humans.

I think one key fact is that the central example of a human-extincted species is some bug living only on one type of tree in the rain forest

We’ve got a bunch of more impactful recent extinctions than that.

A few that come to mind:

The passenger pigeon, whose flocks were so large they used to black out the sun for days on end as the billions of birds passed.

Stellars sea cow, the largest sirenian ever known to exist and the only which existed outside of warm tropical waters.

The dodo, one of the dozens of quite unique Australian animal species which went extinct in the past couple centuries, and which has become synonymous with extinction.

The thylacine, another Australian example. The largest marsupial carnivore on the planet. Not only its species but the entire family it represented is now extinct.

The carolina parakeet. The only parrot species native to the USA.

Of course there are a lot more which are not fully extinct but have been reduced so drastically it’s sort of similar.

The American buffalo. The right whale. Much of the range of the wolf, of bears, the general abundance and size of life in the ocean which has decreased over time, etc. etc.

The dodo, one of the dozens of quite unique Australian animal species which went extinct in the past couple centuries, and which has become synonymous with extinction.

The thylacine, another Australian example. The largest marsupial carnivore on the planet. Not only its species but the entire family it represented is now extinct.

These are due to species from "big land" getting on smaller lands and have very little to do with "ecosystem damage etc." it happens all the time when separated lands get connected

But how are these impactful? What's the negative implication for humans from them being extinct?

Natural beauty is eroded, and the world is less interesting. No, these species did not make number go up, but that doesn't mean they meant nothing. What are the negative implication of humans living in a pod and not knowing what a tree is?

I guess I propose that they might mean close to nothing, when there's still 10 to 30 million other species that remain that easily fill the gap left.

I am sure that there are some wild species which the Romans found so tasty that they ate them to extinction,

I think you're referring to silphium.