Worlds For Man - Part 3 - Earth
Earth, as our homeworld, is already habitable. The problem is that our polluting activities are “de-terraforming” her, rendering her less habitable and destroying the biological riches that are our world’s evolutionary heritage. Our immediate task in managing the Earth’s future is to slow, stop, and eventually reverse this process of
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I'd call the experiments with the other great apes, which have included the mirror test and extensive sign-language conversations, pretty conclusive. Even if you want to argue that wild apes aren't sapient, it's fairly obvious that Washoe, Koko, Kanzi et al are. Pepperberg's experiments with Alex and other African Gray parrots have been dramatically successful: Alex frequently initiates conversations and makes intellectual leaps, learning principles in advance of his training.
Beyond the great apes and African Gray parrots, we are finding signs of higher-than-expected intelligence throughout birds and mammals. Not (with the possible exception of the orcas) equal to our own, but approaching it in many cases. Even the stupider birds and mammals (passerines, ungulates etc.) are turning out to be smarter than we thought (though not sapient).
... and slavery would be the most likely result.
Sadly, yes ... unless we manage to overcome our darker tendencies in some Awakening.
Social Darwinism would have a massive revival.
Indeed.
Thermal pollution in a deep sea environment might cause a potential problem, as well as political isolation between humans and selkies.
Yes, and yes. Thermal pollution is in general going to be a problem, which is one reason primary industry moves offworld. And there might be obvious conflicts of interest between land-dwellers and selkies ... and between selkies and other sapient marine life, especially the orcas. It's anyone's guess how this might be resolved.
Other issue is Earth most likely one of the few complex bioplanets in the universe, simply because of the difficulty of matching its "perfect" biocondtions. Terraforming is pointless and impossible unless you can form solar systems, and to a lesser extent galaxies.
The terraforming I'm discussing in this series of posts is of other planets and moons in our Solar System. The worlds I see as amenable to terraforming are mainly the inner-system terrestrials: Mars, Luna, Mercury, and Venus (in order of increasing difficulty). On Earth, the challenge is to prevent de-terraforming due to accumulated pollution and other environmental damage.
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I think you are confusing terms here. Sentience is intelligence, while sapience is the ability to make decisions based on intelligent thought. Both would be necessary.
On Earth, the challenge is to prevent de-terraforming due to accumulated pollution and other environmental damage.
Or thermonuclear war with the Middle East. Y'know, just in case.
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"Sapience" is the ability to think about thinking, to have concepts of the past and future. We know for sure that the other great apes and the African Grey parrot have reached this level of intelligence. It is likely that some monkeys (i.e. capuchins), all proboscids (elephants), and many if not all pscitticines (parrots/parakeets etc.), corvids (crows, ravens, jays etc.), and ceteceans (especially delphinids) are also this capable.
This is a rapidly developing field of study, and it seems that every time we look at animal intelligence, we are finding them to be smarter than we previously believed. The key development is the waning of the taboo against "anthromorphizing" their behavior, and the willingness to report honestly the behavior being observed. In other words, we were in part seeing animals as stupid because we were preconceiving them as behaving in rote, purely instinctual manners.
Whether this leads to the gradual integration of the smarter animals into human society as wards, or their exploitation as slaves, is up to us. We, after all, are the ones with the advanced military technology -- even the strongest elephant is helpless before a man with an automatic rifle.
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