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April 02, 2006

Evil Genius in Texas

A world famous ecologist and Professor at the University of Texas, Dr. Eric R. Pianka, is advocating for the death of 90% of the world’s population by the intentional spreading of ebola (though he says bird flu might do) to save the world from the environmental destruction of humans who are overpopulating it. Even more disturbing, following a presentation of his views before the Texas Academy of Science, he received a rousing standing ovation and was named the 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist.

I take back anything nice I have ever said about Texas. People there are just plain crazy.

Pianka said some pretty disturbing things just prior to receiving these honors:

AIDS is not an efficient killer, he explained, because it is too slow.

He spoke glowingly of the police state in China that enforces their one-child policy. He said, "Smarter people have fewer kids." He said those who don't have a conscience about the Earth will inherit the Earth, "...because those who care make fewer babies and those that didn't care made more babies." He said we will evolve as uncaring people, and "I think IQs are falling for the same reason, too."

Do people really believe in this stuff? This blogger (her site is named “Serenity”) does:

He's a radical thinker, that one! I mean, he's basically advocating for the death of all but 10% of the current population! And at the risk of sounding just as radical, I think he's right.

Humans are far too populous. We've used up our resources, and we're destroying the Earth at an accelerated pace. The more technology we create, the more damage we're capable of doing. We now consider keeping the forest natural to save a species of catepillar more important that using that space for humans to live and till. And I'm in complete agreement with that. It's the harsh reality that many people alive right now should be dead. And even harsher to think that the world would be better off with them dead too. My grandparents, who I love dearly and am so incredibly thankful to know, are honestly being kept alive only through the technology that we have created via medicine. The same goes for the millions of other old folk alive and kicking and will continue to do so for another 5-10 years, using up more resources. Or think of all the babies being born every hour with abnormalities that 50 years ago would have kept them from living. Now, those lives can be saved, and we pat ourselves on the backs at how smart and charitable we are as a species that we can create and sustain life. For those against cloning, etc because it's "playing God," how is this any different?? Life has a built-in mechanism that keeps species from becoming too overpopulated, and it wasn't until humans started messing with the system that it went out of whack. Now that we've killed off the majority of all top predators, we now must take on the duty of keeping populations in check and at the same time, allowing other species a fair chance at reproduction.

Like so many evil geniuses, Dr. Pianka believes the rest of us are too stupid to come up with a solution to the problems we're facing today. And he is in a position to reach impressionable young people and bring them along with his ideas. The real danger here is that one of his students or fans will actually try to implement his ideas someday in an effort to save the world.

Posted by Becky at April 2, 2006 11:40 AM