Voluntary Human Extinction

[CygnusRex]

Is this the logical conclussion of the evironmental movement, or a windup (which was my first suspicion)

http://www.vhemt.org/

sample quote:

Q: What good is a healthy biosphere if there are no humans around to enjoy it?

The same good it was before we furless beach apes came along.

A human-centered world view only values other species by what they can do for us, or for "our children's children." We're collectively so centered on our own species that nothing matters except in relation to ourselves.

It's like our ancient view of the universe with Earth at the center: it took a long time for people to accept that our planet is just one of many orbiting a star, which is also just one of many in a galaxy, which is also just one of many in the universe.

An Earth-centered world view sees Homo sapiens as one of tens of millions of species in Earth's biosphere. We are exceptional in many ways, and so are the other life forms we share this rare and wonderful place with.

By envisioning Earth's entire biosphere, acknowledging the intrinsic value of every life form, our voluntary extinction begins to make sense.

 

[Heckler]

Mind you if we all drink the deadly kool-aid, somewhere after our mass extinction something man made would go horribly wrong and probably bring about global armageddon anyhoo like a nuclear plant going critical.

It's one of the weaknesses of post apocalyptic novels like The Stand or Earth Abides that nature just retakes the world.

 

[CygnusRex]

They don't answer the nuclear question, as to being a suicide cult

Q: Is this another one of those suicide cults?

Seems as if our entire industrialized civilization is one big suicide cult. The symptoms surround us.

We propel our bodies about in fragile metal boxes, at potentially fatal speeds, without much care or reason.

We ingest so much poison that meat from our bones wouldn't meet government standards for pork.

We pull strands from the web of life, jump up and down on it, and expect it to hold our ever-increasing weight. Few notice there's no safety net.

Instead, we could be embracing life: voluntary human extinction offers a healthy cure for humanity's collective death wish.

I hope that clears it up for you (VHE = "embracing life")

 

[MrRING]

That's one thing that has struck me too, Heckler - the whole of the enviromental movement seems built around us destroying the planet, but at our worst we could only kill ourselves and other contemporary animals; the earth has changed quite a bit from the land of dinosaurs, to the ice-age early mammals, to the age of humanity, but I don't think that even if we set off nuclear bombs that we could really "kill the earth".

 

[Anonymous]

That's one thing that has struck me too, Heckler - the whole of the enviromental movement seems built around us destroying the planet, but at our worst we could only kill ourselves and other contemporary animals; the earth has changed quite a bit from the land of dinosaurs, to the ice-age early mammals, to the age of humanity, but I don't think that even if we set off nuclear bombs that we could really "kill the earth".

Well, exactly. The environmental movement is about making sure that we will be able to live on the earth. It would be hard to kill all life on earth and have it never regrow; but it would be very easy to make it near-inhospitable for us.

So I don't think this is the logical conclusion of environmentalism, its just bollocks.

I'm all for reducing the population, but this is just stupid. We're here. We evolved the intelligence and ability to create technology. We've abused it. Well, sorry, but this is a rather drastic remedy.

Above all, its impossible. There's no way they could ever make a dent in the population. Never.

I wouldn't made if they made some ground though. Most of our environmental problems come out of overpopulation. Less people would fix a lot of things quite nicely.

 

[austen27]

I wouldn't made if they made some ground though. Most of our environmental problems come out of overpopulation. Less people would fix a lot of things quite nicely.

I'm not sure about that, I think distribution of resources is the biggest problem. Many poor countries have very sparse populations, rich ones have denser populations. The world population should level off naturally before the end of the century any way.

 

[Anonymous]

If there is any genetic factor (or tendency) behind their beliefs, then presumably it'll die out before we do.

 

[Anonymous]

... but I don't think that even if we set off nuclear bombs that we could really "kill the earth".

WooHoo! Let's hear it for the cockroaches and blue-green algae! :madeyes:

 

[austen27]

WooHoo! Let's hear it for the cockroaches and blue-green algae! :madeyes:

Wait a few million years and they'll evolve into something more interesting (not than any one will be around to see exactly what though).

 

[Anonymous]

Well, this is all very nihilistic of us

Why bother, after all? Who cares?

I mean what is the point?

Goes off to run hot bath, look for 'Leonard Cohen's Greatest Hits' CD and a packet of Chinese "safety" razor blades. Pauses to write out will leaving everything to Melbourne (Australia), Argentinian ant supercolony (at least they're trying).

 

[lopaka]

Re: Well, this is all very nihilistic of us

Why bother, after all? Who cares?

I mean what is the point?

Goes off to run hot bath, look for 'Leonard Cohen's Greatest Hits' CD and a packet of Chinese "safety" razor blades. Pauses to write out will leaving everything to Melbourne (Australia), Argentinian ant supercolony (at least they're trying).

Well, yes. But if you had to merge this thread into 'whinge' or 'unwhinge', which would it be? That's the key question.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Re: Well, this is all very nihilistic of us

Well, yes. But if you had to merge this thread into 'whinge' or 'unwhinge', which would it be? That's the key question.

Whinge, of course! A healthy, happy species, and it's individuals, wouldn't be either contemplating, or perpetrating, auto-annihilation.

 

[Anonymous]

George Taylor: YOU MANIACS. YOU BLEW IT UP. DAMN YOU. GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL

 

[Timble2]

Why don't we tell the the VHE people that it's a great idea...and they can go first. They'll never know that we changed our minds after their ...erm departure.:devil:

 

[sunsplash1]

If there is any genetic factor (or tendency) behind their beliefs, then presumably it'll die out before we do.

Which is in no way ironic.

 

[Heckler]

Self fulfilling prophecy really, if we have reached a level of intellectual bankruptcy that leads some people to conclude that the best way to save the planet is to top ourselves then we as a race are pretty piss poor and are probably lined up to be phased out or overtaken evolutionarily. No doubt put down in old ma Nature's book of almost rans alongside the Neandertal and the Sabre-Tooth Tiger.

 

[Anonymous]

Self fulfilling prophecy really, if we have reached a level of intellectual bankruptcy that leads some people to conclude that the best way to save the planet is to top ourselves then we as a race are pretty piss poor and are probably lined up to be phased out or overtaken evolutionarily. ...

Also nice that we've got the luxury of such supremely vapid and decadent contemplation of our collective fates.

"Oh! pity the poor bunnies, flowers and fishes! We're too bad for this World, let's leave it for its own good."

...

Actually, I'm pretty sure the tack taken by the VHM loonies neatly mirrors some of the early Christian beliefs: that if everyone stopped shagging and reproducing, they'd hasten the Second Coming and the End Of Days.

A belief taken up by

The belief eventually died out.

The Shakers

... The Shakers, who believe that their founder, Mother Ann Lee, was the second incarnation of Christ, built communities based on simplicity, celibacy and worship as a way of living out the Kingdom of God. ...

They're still around though.

 

[Heckler]

(places tongue in cheek) Right I'm off to rev my five litre SUV for no apparent reason whilst chugging down a Macdonalds from a old style indestrctable styrofoam container then spray my pits with Eau de CFC circa 1979. Then I'm gonna have a bonfire of old fridges.

That'll show Mother Nature who's boss of this ball of rock! (removes tongue from cheek)

Who's to say that our systematic abuse of the globe is not all part of the plan to cause the animals to evolve into polution breathers? I don't actually believe this but I do recall a great Godzilla movie about it called Godzilla versus the Smog Monster, where a giant ball of pollution gains sentience takes it's revenge on mankind before being beaten by the great scaly one (sorry to spoil the ending for yer).

 

[austen27]

Actually, I'm pretty sure the tack taken by the VHM loonies neatly mirrors some of the early Christian beliefs: that if everyone stopped shagging and reproducing, they'd hasten the Second Coming and the End Of Days.

A belief taken up by

The belief eventually died out. They're still around though.

I think the Shakers hang on because they used to adopt orphans and also welcome new members. Some modern Catholic and right wing Protesant groups seem to have gone to the other extreme now - the world is ours to plunder.

As far as the environment goes we can onlt ever reach a comprimise. To leave it untouched we have to annihilate ourselves - if we destroy it with our life styles we also annihilate our selves.

As most of us want to go on living we have to manage our impact on the world.

 

[Anonymous]

(places tongue in cheek) Right I'm off to rev my five litre SUV for no apparent reason whilst chugging down a Macdonalds from a old style indestrctable styrofoam container then spray my pits with Eau de CFC circa 1979. Then I'm gonna have a bonfire of old fridges.

You know what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna get myself a 1967 Cadaliac Eldarado Convertable,
Hot Pink!
With whale skin hub caps,
An all leather cow interior,
And big brown baby seal eyes for headlights.
YEAH!
And I'm gonna drive around in that baby,
At 115 miles per hour,
Getting one mile per gallon,
Sucking down quarter pounder cheeseburgers from McDonalds in the old-fasioned non-biodegradable styrafoam containers.
And when I'm done sucking down those grease ball burgers,
I'm gonna wipe my mouth in the American flag,
And then I'm gonna toss the styrafoam containers right out the side,
And there ain't a God damn thing anybody can do about it,
You know why?
'Cause we got the bombs, that's why.
Two words, Nuclear Fucking Weapons OK.
Russia, Germany, Romania,
They can have all the democracy they want.
They can have a big democracy cake,
Walk right through the middle of Tienemen Square,
And it won't make a lick of difference,
Because we got the bombs OK!

 

[Heckler]

Fantastic, "No cure for Cancer" Denis Leary at his best.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Group wants to see humans extinct

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Make no mistake about it, the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement isn't anti-child, it's more like anti-human.

The VHE is dedicated to phasing out the human race in the interest of the health of the Earth, founder Les Knight told Wednesday's San Francisco Chronicle.

With 16,000 people born per hour and a current global population of 6.5 billion, there are already more than enough people on the planet, Knight said.

A 1994 study concluded a single person born in the 1990s would be responsible during a lifetime for 22 million pounds of liquid waste and 2.2 million pounds each of solid waste and atmospheric waste, the newspaper said. He or she will have a lifetime consumption of 4,000 barrels of oil, 1.5 million pounds of minerals and 62,000 pounds of animal products that will necessitate the slaughter of 2,000 animals.

"Wherever humans live, not much else lives," Knight said. "It isn't that we're evil and want to kill everything -- it's just how we live."

Knight, who had a vasectomy at age 25, emphasizes VHE likes kids and says many of its members are parents as well as children.


-----------------
© Copyright 2005 United Press International, Inc.

www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID= ... 0458-3167r

 

[Peripart]

Oh no!

It's bad enough that I'm supposed to feel guilty about being white, male, middle-class, a motorist, a meat-eater, well-educated, English and British. Now I read this post, it seems these folk want me to feel guilty about being human as well! "Beach-ape" indeed! Not a bad insult, actually, though my favourite still remains "Cheese-eating surrender monkey".

I thought I was making a point here, but it seems I was just ranting, so I'd better go before someone takes me seriously.

Oh yes, if anyone knows how to get umlauts into my signature, I'm all ears (I didn't think that request was quite worth a post of its own).

 

[river_styx]

I might be missing something here but shouldn't a society which desires the extinction of the human race have a permanent membership of exactly zero?

It seems slightly hypocritical to start a club devoted to this matter and then not bump off all of its members.

Unless they're working on an effective means of bringing this event about. In which case the CIA and FBI will probably soon go Waco on their ass.

I for one think the human race evolved purely as a means to expand beyond this planet. If you think all the other major extinctions which have happened throughout history have involved species without the capability to ensure their own survival.
We as a race have a real chance of avoiding extinction from disease or asteroid impact by various means. DNA preservation techniques, colonisation of other planets, even time travel or dimension jumping could be a possibility in a few thousand years time.

Earth is a part of us and we are a part of Earth. I think the true meaning of life is to make sure she isn't forgotten after her death, or in the very least that she didn't die in vain.

 

[OneWingedBird]

if we have reached a level of intellectual bankruptcy that leads some people to conclude that the best way to save the planet is to top ourselves then we as a race are pretty piss poor and are probably lined up to be phased out or overtaken evolutionarily. No doubt put down in old ma Nature's book of almost rans alongside the Neandertal and the Sabre-Tooth Tiger.

No matter. Everyone ends up in that book sooner or later.

We as a race have a real chance of avoiding extinction from disease or asteroid impact by various means.

Forget it. We're screwed in the face of these things. Stick with Androman's Cohen album and the Chinese safety razors.

It seems slightly hypocritical to start a club devoted to this matter and then not bump off all of its members.

I'd have to agree, it would make good reality TV too. Maybe they think they have a mission to convert everyone else before they can go.

 

[river_styx]

We as a race have a real chance of avoiding extinction from disease or asteroid impact by various means.

Forget it. We're screwed in the face of these things. Stick with Androman's Cohen album and the Chinese safety razors.

I was of course meaning that we could, if we were so inclined, as a species use the recently mapped human genome as a method of preservation so that when we are wiped out the next head of the food chain, if they have the technology, could use it in order to bring the species back. Purely as a zoological curio.

 

[Dingo667]

Well, I think this group has a point. Humans are pretty sh*t. I don't want to get into detail right now, done that before. However my husband I I don't have or want kids. For the simple reason that small children grow up to be big shitty humans. So when I look at a child I see the adult and what I see is no good.
Oh yeah, I can hear you rattling on about how "some " humans are/were beautiful and then we get the old boring list of Ghandi, Einstein and others. So what?
The majority of humans isn't like them, the majority is useless. Going about their daily chores, multiplying for no reason, helping to destroy more and more the natural equilibrium. I don't care if some [very few] humans have invented stuff or painted stuff or did other things that you will very probably come up with, like art and culture... These things only appeal to ourselves, nature couldn't care less about a Michelangelo. We have to stop being so selfcentered and believing [wrongly] that the sun is shining out of our naked butts. Humans are a liability and I hope sincerely that one day we'll die out so that nature can get back to normal.

Oh yes and don't give me the old "maybe it is natural that we destroy the planet". It may well be!
Yes, we evolved like this, we use it against our environment, everything f*cks up. Brilliant. So just for once maybe human intervention against the "natural flow of things" may be a good thing and that would be to stop procreating, and let the few that are left enjoy the planet as it is, with the knowledge that after we die there are still enough plants and animals left to get back to the way it was before.

I am also not "evil" [at least not in the literal way] by saying this. I am just practical and can see through the way things are without being clouded by hormonal urges, ethics or all the other mumbo jumbo humans came up with like religion. I look at the world, I see whats happening, I see why and I made a decision based on logic.
:miaow:
ANIMAL POWER!!!!!!!!

 

[GNC]

I still have a small amount of faith in human nature. Considering the amount of grief that most deaths cause, I'm suspicious of those who want it to happen more often. Everyone's death is personal to somebody, surely some people don't hear about yet another plane crash or suicide bombing and think, "Oh good, that's more of us out of the way!", do they?

 

[drbastard]

I still have a small amount of faith in human nature. Considering the amount of grief that most deaths cause, I'm suspicious of those who want it to happen more often. Everyone's death is personal to somebody, surely some people don't hear about yet another plane crash or suicide bombing and think, "Oh good, that's more of us out of the way!", do they?

Read and vomit at leisure:

http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... ht=#581041

 

[Quake42]

Humans are a liability and I hope sincerely that one day we'll die out so that nature can get back to normal.

Oh for heaven's sake. If you really believed that you'd (a) kill yourself and (b) try and take as many others with you when you do so. The fact that you don't suggests that this is just nihilist posturing.

I have to agree with AndroMan on this.