Human Extinction

 The most common and perhaps deepest fear for most individuals of our species -- Homo sapiens -- is fear of death. We go to great lengths to postpone death. But death, alas, the the fate of all of us. Death is inevitable, unstoppable and common to all us humans as well as to all other living things we know of. 

Living is an externally tenuous process involving organic chemistry which limits the existence of life to what, in the grand scheme of nature, is a tiny range of temperatures, at or near the surface of the earth. We know of, no other place in our entire universe where the process we know as living occurs. 

We have about 8.7 million species of living things on earth of which none are the first to live are still in existence. About 90% of all species that have ever existed have become extinct. And the history of the  Hominidae genus to which we belong strongly suggests that the currents species which includes Homo sapiens will inevitable become extinct to be replaced by yet another species.

Homo gautengensis† (also classified as H. habilis)
Homo rudolfensis† (membership in Homo uncertain)
Homo habilis† (membership in Homo uncertain)
Homo naledi†
Dmanisi Man, Homo georgicus† (thought by some to be an early subspecies of Homo erectus)
Homo ergaster† (considered by some to be an early subspecies of Homo erectus)
Homo erectus†

    Homo erectus bilzingslebenensis †
    Java Man, Homo erectus erectus †
    Lantian Man, Homo erectus lantianensis †
    Nanjing Man, Homo erectus nankinensis †
    Peking Man, Homo erectus pekinensis †
    Solo Man, Homo erectus soloensis †
    Tautavel Man, Homo erectus tautavelensis †
    Yuanmou Man, Homo erectus yuanmouensis †

Flores Man or Hobbit, Homo floresiensis†
Homo luzonensis †
Homo antecessor† (thought by some to be a late H. erectus or early H. heidelbergensis)
Homo heidelbergensis† (also classified as H. sapiens heidelbergensis)
Homo cepranensis† (also classified as H. heidelbergensis)
Homo helmei† (also classified as late H. heidelbergensis or early H. sapiens)
Homo tsaichangensis† (thought by some to be a subspecies of H. erectus or a Denisovan)
Denisovans (scientific name not yet assigned)†
Neanderthal, Homo neanderthalensis† (sometimes called Homo sapiens neanderthalensis)
Homo rhodesiensis† (thought by some to be an African subspecies of H. heidelbergensis or an early H. sapiens)
Modern human, Homo sapiens (sometimes called Homo sapiens sapiens)

It is not a question of  if Homo sapiens will become extinct but of when and how Homo sapiens become extinct. Yet somehow some have come to believe our species is the "end all" of the Hominidae genus and to hope that it will flourish as a species forever.

As such, the question arises as to whether we, as humans, have a moral and/or ethical obligation to ensure we do nothing to cause extinction. The answer is threefold:

(1) In the grand scheme of the universe as we now it, the answer is no. Nature has no morals, no ethics. Nature could care less. 

(2) As a living thing, the species has an natural obligation to sustain the species. That is the only obligation we as living entities have. But that does not answer the question of whether we have a moral obligation as individuals or ethical obligation as a society to ensure to protect the species against extinction.

(3) If the majority of individuals feel we have a moral obligation to protect the species against extinction then we as a society have an ethical obligation to protect the species against extinction. And that is so because morals and ethics are whatever we as individuals and societies make morals and ethics to be whatever we deem them to be.

But the ultimate source of those morals and ethics is the tenuous process of life involving organic chemistry to sustain life of the species into an uncertain future. The only thing for which we can be certain is that the reality of the material universe.

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