Should humans intervene and phase out Earth’s predator species? Some futurists think we should! British philosopher David Pearce, in particular, believes we have to stop animals from hunting and killing other animals.
He wrote a Blueprint for a Cruelty-Free World to create a biosphere without suffering. How to achieve this goal? Re-engineering the ecosystem and reprogramming predators through genetically-driven behavioral modification.
“Humans already massively "interfere" with Nature in countless ways ranging from uncontrolled habitat-destruction to captive breeding programs for big cats to ‘rewilding’. Within the next few decades, every cubic meter of the planet will be computationally accessible to surveillance, micro-management and control” Pearce explained in an interview to Io9.
“On current trends, large nonhuman terrestrial vertebrates will be extinct outside our wildlife parks by mid-century. So the question arises. What principle(s) should govern our stewardship of the rest of the living world? How many of the traditional horrors of ‘Nature, red in tooth and claw’ should we promote and perpetuate?
Alternatively, insofar we want to preserve traditional forms of Darwinian life, should we aim for an ethic of compassionate stewardship instead. Cognitively, nonhuman animals are akin to small children. They need caring for as such. Getting rid of predation isn't a matter of moralizing.”
A plan for a world without predators certainly sounds extreme. Are humans allowed to rebuild the biosphere? Is the Earth a garden that humans can landscape at their whim?