The Coalition of the Swilling

Some people need to be reminded where humans would be in the food chain if we didn't have technology.....and it ain't at the top, that's for sure.

I dig your point, JeffS, but humans didn't have technology and such to start with - they made it all. If we lost it all tomorrow, we'd still have our brains. The toll would be horrible - an individual man against (say) a tiger is pretty much screwed - but Man the species would still have the advantage.

True enough, nightfly; people get snagged for snacks every day by alligators, bears, sharks, tigers, etc, all over this planet.

But we would not flourish as a species, unless you count huddling in caves as "flourishing".

On the whole, Humanity doesn't have to worry about the "middle o' the food chain blues", except when people step outside the artificial (and sometimes blurred) line we've drawn between nature and our civilization. That's possible only because we used our brains to create technology.

My point (poorly stated) is that some people are deliberately working to lower the level of technology (e.g., reducing energy consumption through the "carbon footprint") in order to lower or remove that artificial barrier. They either forget or don't care just how little the natural world cares for the individual, just as the photo demonstrates.

Whereas civilization in general (and Western civilization in particular) prizes the individual, sometimes over the species.

I'm hungry.

Jeff - touché. I'm going to "flourish" on the sofa for a bit with my blankie and some cocoa.

Heh! Not a bad idea, nightfly. Think I'll do the same, in front of a warm fire.

Sis, if you're hungry, you have meat on the hoof, er, paw within easy reach. Just have Major Dad whip up some of that fantastic spice blend, and you can have a tasty dinner in short order, all within the paradigm of the food chain.