this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
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But money and power is more important than the environment we need to produce said money and power as well as survive. This will be the second time an organism has caused a mass extinction but the first time the organism self proclaimed that it was intelligent.
I come back to Taoism, that is suffering becomes possible when one becomes separate from the Tao aka the way things are, aka the truth. Like if I lie that I can fly unassisted and jump off a building then I have removed myself from truth and when I go to test this I will experience suffering. Humanity has separated itself from truth for a long time and now the bill is coming due.
Homo Sapiens have existed for around 300,000 years. The earliest know use of currency was around 30,000 years ago. Assuming, when you say 'power', you mean mechanically created energy ie steam power, or electrical power, the first know use of steam power was about 2050 years ago.
So, as humans managed to exist for 270,000 years without money or power, I would say the environment is probably the most important factor.
Not 8 billion humans though.
More so political power as money alone does nothing. There's always been that type of power and money is a representation of value and there's always been value and power so long as there's been minds. The first organisms to cause a mass extinction was photosynthesizing microorganisms. They poisoned the atmosphere with oxygen and nearly killed everything, including themselves. Of course they didn't do so for money or power or really out of any will but they are the first organisms to cause a mass extinction.