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  On The Destiny Of Species

  The Origin of Species must be one of the most famous books in history, yet very few people have any idea what it says. Indeed, even those who claim to have read it seem to have missed the true implications because it’s not a book that supports the gushing sentimentality and endless doom and gloom rhetoric that defines modern conservation. In fact, it specifically insults those that wallow in the assumed importance of their own apocalyptic pessimism:

  ‘Nevertheless, so profound is our ignorance, and so high our presumption, that we marvel when we hear of the extinction of an organic being; and as we do not see the cause, we invoke cataclysms to desolate the world, or invent laws on the duration of the forms of life!’

  I guess there’s a possibility the green army hasn’t actually read it after all, but either way, objective natural history has been drowned in a cauldron of anthropocentric hysteria and grotesque self-reverence that has nothing to do with reality or Charles Darwin. How comfortable do you think the WWF would be with this quote for example?

  “Thus, as it seems to me, the manner in which single species and whole groups of species become extinct accords well with the theory of natural selection.”

  Given their involvement in the wonderfully preposterous Alliance for Zero Extinction, I would suggest not very. The Alliance for Zero Extinction also includes the Charles Darwin Foundation by the way, but in light of their utopian desperation to end extinction, how comfortable do you think the Charles Darwin Foundation would be with this quote (by Charles Darwin himself remember):

  “We need not marvel at extinction; if we must marvel, let it be at our own presumption in imagining for a moment that we understand the many complex contingencies on which the existence of each species depends.”

  Again, I would suggest not very, and that’s why I would urge everybody to read The Origin of Species before trusting the self-proclaimed ‘stewards of the Earth’ about anything. Yes, Giant Pandas are fragile, and yes, Polar Bears are fragile (relatively), and yes, even Humans may be fragile, but Life isn’t about species; it’s about Life. It’s about pragmatic survival in a dynamic world. And besides, plenty of species are having a fabulous time anyway. Cane toads are doing marvellously well for example. As are Grey Squirrels, and Comb Jellyfish, and Japanese Knotweed, and a whole host of other favoured races that conservationists have condemned as ‘invasive pests’ just because they’re demonstrating success in the struggle for life. In fact, as far as I can work out, conservation specifically involves the preservation of unfavoured races and the elimination of favoured races and thus, quite amazingly, is specifically trying to achieve the exact opposite of the evolutionary process it claims to represent. Either way, the ‘stewards’ do not represent objective natural history and if The Origin of Species can’t convince you, there’s always The Destiny of Species (http://www.destinyofspecies.com)

  Review by fish snorkel on 10:16, 05 Oct 2009

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