All animals in their nature exploit the resources they have access to in order to survive/multiply.
Humans however seem to have a trend of exploiting things to the max, even to our own detriment when we completely obliterate the land we’re using. Despite having the knowledge to thrive without destroying the planet, we still do it.
Is this human nature at this point, or something else? Interested to see what the science community thinks about how we go to this weird place in our species’ evolution
I think the only thing that sets us apart from other animals is the level to which we can modify our environment and (so far) survive it.
In The Matrix, Smith says that humans are not mammals because every mammal maintains an equilibrium with their environment. But this is not something inherent in the animal, but rather the checks and balances in the environment itself. Take away the predators and deer populations grow until all the food is gone and then they starve. We’ve seen it happen.
If the deer could make food for themselves, they would just keep on breeding more deer.