Treat all creatures the same to protect humanity, say researchers

The attitude that humans are superior to other species harms the planet and puts humanity in danger, a group of researchers have warned.

They say that this false belief that humans are better than all other species, otherwise known as speciesism, is comparable to racism and ‘leads to behaviour that challenges our future on this planet.’

Instead, humans should remove themselves from the pedestal and consider themselves a part of an interconnected tree of life, with all creatures equally important. This could protect their lives, habitats and the future of the planet.

In a new book, Speciesism in Biology and Culture: How Human Exceptionalism is Pushing Planetary Boundaries, researchers and philosophers are challenging the popular belief that humans are the strongest species.

‘People these days are very conscious of how evil it is for one group of people to think that they’re superior to another race, and yet the same people who are very woke about that are perfectly happy to say, well, humans are in charge of everything, so the rest of the world is ours to use as we see fit,’ said Brent Mishler, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-editor and co-author of the book.

UC Berkeley Ph.D. recipient and former postdoctoral fellow Brian Swartz also contributed to the book and both authors assert that when humans believe they are superior to other species, it influences how they behave and interact with other forms of life.

Adaptation to the environment leads some species to excel in certain areas, for example eagles have better vision than humans, which makes it difficult to argue that one species is superior to the other.

‘The world constantly changes, and the ultimate punchline is that we are all simply … different,’ said Swartz. ‘Those differences don’t necessarily correspond to superiority. They correspond to biology and extensions of biology — culture — that are adapted to the environment of the moment.’

‘The way I put it to my students is that it’s like we’re a huge, diverse family living in the same house, which is Earth, and we need to get along. Not just the human family. We’re talking about everything — plants, animals and bacteria. What one does stresses another,’ added Mishler. ‘We’re not arguing that humans are not important. We’re just saying they’re only one of many of the life forms at the tips of the tree of life.’

Even the concept of species is unnecessary, according to philosopher of science John Wilkins from the University of Melbourne, who also worked on the book. He writes that there is no scientific need for species and that the concept is rooted in religion and philosophy.

Originally formed by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, inspired by the bible, the hierarchy ranks the systems of life, with species lumped into categories according to their shared physical characteristics.

Species are usually defined as a population that cannot breed with closely related populations, but this isn’t necessarily the case, as some species don’t breed at all but still have descendants.

Mishler has previously proposed discarding the taxonomical rankings, as species distinctions are not equivalent across all forms of life – for example, bacteria look identical but vary genetically as much as a dog from a cat.

‘Evidence shows that a species of amoeba does not mean the same thing as a species of fungus, animal or anything,’ added Swartz. ‘And if species are not uniquely real, then where does that leave us? Is there anything that means the same thing across the tree of life?’

Species should be replaced with lineages, according to the book, which represents ascendant-descendant pairs connected over time.

Photos provided by Brian Swartz and Hristina Šatalova