> Placing us on the same level as trees is backwards, and it is not very useful thinking in those terms.
My turn to ask for some definitions - what do you mean by 'backwards', and 'useful'?
> We need to understand our place in the universe, and Earth, and be responsible with respect it
It's precisely my point that we, as a species, don't understand our place in the universe because we tend to inflate our importance with respect to it - indeed this was (is?) a cornerstone of some religion thought (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_affair).
If you take the view that self organisation/structure equates to relative importance, then, let's suppose a more 'highly evolved' alien race visited the Earth. Would you happily accept our new-found second place on the importance scale? How about if we develop a microchip more complex than the human brain (assuming that we have the capacity to do it)? Does that device become more important than a human being?
To me, the idea that all of Earth exists to support us is what I would call 'backwards'.
My turn to ask for some definitions - what do you mean by 'backwards', and 'useful'?
> We need to understand our place in the universe, and Earth, and be responsible with respect it
It's precisely my point that we, as a species, don't understand our place in the universe because we tend to inflate our importance with respect to it - indeed this was (is?) a cornerstone of some religion thought (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_affair).
If you take the view that self organisation/structure equates to relative importance, then, let's suppose a more 'highly evolved' alien race visited the Earth. Would you happily accept our new-found second place on the importance scale? How about if we develop a microchip more complex than the human brain (assuming that we have the capacity to do it)? Does that device become more important than a human being?
To me, the idea that all of Earth exists to support us is what I would call 'backwards'.