TED Community » John Huntington

More About Me

I'm passionate about

1) The history and the art of Buddhism 2) Photographing Asian Art 3) students and teaching 4) Asian numismatics

An idea worth spreading

Altruistic compassion, divesting one's self of egoistic cravings by whatever means possible.

Talk to me about

Photography, Buddhist symbol systems and Iconography.

Comments

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• A comment on Conversation: Science is developing the tools towards de-extinction of species on the planet that have become extinct. The question becomes; Should we?

  Mar 19 2013: I completely agree that it is a "gamble" (in my opinion, very low risk compared to others we are currently engaged in) but, as it obvious, it is human nature to gamble. Many of the greatest of human events were or are based in very high risk gambles and occasionally we lose a round. However, in the case of de-extinction I, not only I think we should, but I think we must.
  
  To be blunt, we owe the biomes that we humans have decimated (or worse) reparation and it is in our own best interests to keep up the biodiversity of the planet. It is my opinion that if we have learned anything from the past gambles, it is some of the things to watch out for. (no one ever dreamed that a few rabbits in Australia would ever be the kind of problem that they are now but we may not do that again (one hopes).

• A comment on Conversation: Science is developing the tools towards de-extinction of species on the planet that have become extinct. The question becomes; Should we?

  Mar 18 2013: Since the beginning of our existence as a species, proto-humans and humans have been concerned with killing huge numbers of animals of many types for food and, more recently, for pleasure. It only seems appropriate that now we are developing the technology to undo the vast amount of damage that we and our long line of ancestors did. In the past several millennia human population has grown, in my opinion, totally out of control causing vast damage to habitats and to the populations of the other species on the planet. It is time for a wakeup call by which we must realize the planet's biosphere must be shared with others for the heath and safety of all beings whatever their niche. De-extinctions should become a major environmental priority across the globe.
  
  As with all human activities, there will be mistakes, dumb errors, and even misuses, yet the net result of revitalizing and re-diversifying the world's biomes seems to me to be one of the most positive and productive humanity can engage in.