“If we (humans) disappeared overnight, the world would be probably be better off.”
Interview with the Daily Telegraph about his latest book “Life in the Undergrowth” reported in New Scientist 15 Nov 2005, p10
Editorial Comment: Attenborough’s comment is the inevitable outcome of a theory that relegates human beings to just another life form that resulted from chance random process, and therefore not intrinsically different from animals, plants or bacteria. Once you have convinced people of this, it is only a short step to denigrating the whole human race.
One amusing outcome of this view was expressed by a Nature reader’s letter about the contention that if intelligent aliens existed they would have visited Earth by now. Randall Kamien and Madhuri Kaul wrote, “Careful consideration led us to conclude that if they were intelligent they would not visit this planet.” The Nature editorial staff entitled the letter “Nice planet, shame about the human race” (Nature, vol. 434, p1067, 28 Apr 2005).
A less amusing outcome is that those who are in positions of power can apply evolutionary principles to other members of the human race and declare them to be “unfit” in the struggle for survival and therefore able to be disposed of (abortion, euthanasia). The belief that human life is precious and that all humans are of equal value is based in Genesis, which tells us human beings are special creations made in the image of God. When Genesis is discarded, mankind is in danger of being relegated to Attenborough’s “life in the undergrowth”. (Ref. extinction, humanity, values)