Of COURSE humans are "the most superior animal on the planet"

Turd-bucket has another post up, this one full of fuzzy-wuzzy, lame-brain fake humility claptrap.  He actually casts doubt on whether humanity is the superior species on the Earth, which either means he has trouble grasping the basic definition of words or wants to appeal to environmental liberals in advance of a career in politics (the unthinkable horror!).

He implies people think we're superior because we're the most intelligent species, which is a difficult thing to objectively judge (here we agree).  But it's not INTELLIGENCE that makes us superior – it's the fact that the fate of all other species are subject to our will and whims.  We no longer face any serious predators, because we have vanquished them to the point of insignificance or extinction.  And if we had the will (and lacked the wisdom), we could wipe out any species we'd like to.  Thus, we are superior.

The more interesting question that never enters the mind of the Turbulent "Oh noes I poopied my pants again" Scientist is, "What does this mean?"  If we effectively own the Earth (and we do, at least at the present time), does this mean we are morally responsible for it and must place all animals under our protection?  Nope.  I suppose this could be viewed as a debatable point, but only if you make up a worldview in which this is a tenet.  Way more than 99% of all species that ever existed are extinct, so clearly there's nothing sacred about keeping species alive.

Which raises the key point: our own extinction is a very, very real possibility, if not a certainty.  And you know what animals are?  Resources.  Kill 'em off, and you throw away tools in your toolbox.    Who knows what gene will help us cure some disease or solve some other problem some day.  Same with the environment.  The Holocene (last 10,000 years or so) is a very nice climate for us to live in, and it makes perfect sense for us to try to maintain it by reversing global warming.  But if we warm the planet too much and end the Holocene, both we and the Earth will survive (but many individual people and species will not), which reduces our chances at long term survival.

It may not sound romantic, but evolution doesn't care – it's just a process, and one we don't HAVE to be at the mercy of anymore.  Anyway, for better or worse we ARE the superior species, although maybe not for long if lunkheads like Turd-bucket are the best thinkers we got.