Do you believe (as I do) That for every bad thing in nature… there is a good thing thing to counter balance it? For every natural disease a natural cure?
examples…
Ants…anteaters
Misquitoes…bats
headaches…acetysalisylic (say that 5 times without stumbling… :)) acid
earaches…sweet oil…(olive oil)
any more?
The point of living is to survive, not to balance anything out.
To survive, you have to find a niche: food to eat which is either plentiful or is something that nobody else is eating, a way to deter predators from eating you, and a way to raise your offspring without too many of them dying before they have offspring of their own.
A species that cannot sucessfully compete in all of these arenas will die out. A species that competes too sucessfully may eat all its food too quickly (usually through over-population) and die. I’ve heard, but cannot cite, that that is what happened to the sabre-toothed cat–it was TOO good at hunting, and most of 'em eventually starved to death.
Those that die become food for something else that eats dead things.
So, yeah, it looks like there is a “natural balance” but the mechanics imply that every individual species is just getting along the best way it can.
-David
Oh…I forgot to add…
Banks, I hope you’re right about every disease having a cure. If so–FIND SOMETHING THAT WILL GET RID OF THIS DAMNED SINUS HEADACHE!!!
David
The only balance comes from every living organism trying its damnedest to survive and reproduce. Since everyone is competing to the best of their abilities, they balance each other out (in the long term).
And “Nature” doesn’t give a wet slap whether you have a headache or not.
And Banks, your viewpoint of what constitutes “bad” and “good” seems horribly anthropocentric. You need a larger perspective, and instead of asking if something is good for you, ask if it helps to decrease the amount of pain for all organisms that are capable of experiencing pain. That would be a more objective measure of “goodness”.
Dammit, I’ve been listening to phil too much. Next I might say something good about PETA. Gotta watch this…
Nope. The balance of good vs. bad, yin vs. yang, smooth vs. crunchy is of no consequence in nature. As noted above, only survival counts.
Examples…
Roaches…???
AIDS…???
Muscular Dystrophy…???
Network TV…???
BTW, who decides what is a “good thing in nature”?
The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik
Well, Doctor J, in response to:
Roaches…???
AIDS…???
Muscular Dystrophy…???
Network TV…???
I have to say,
Roaches…Too many humans
AIDS…Too many humans
Muscular Dystrophy…Too many humans
Network TV…Too many humans
Humans are not the nice things in the world. Some of these things are the bad that happens to the bad.