Finding a balance: Humankind's struggle for survival

As mentioned in last weeks blogs, Darwin describes the forces of nature as a constant battle between the strong vs. the weak. The ways that we, as the human species, have come to manipulate the world around us seems to illustrate why we are ‘stronger’, in a broad sense meaning physically and mentally, than many other species. An example of this would be advancements in technology through our understanding of science and the empirical world. Over centuries of deconstructing the mechanics of planet Earth we have learned to control it within the laws of nature. It is important to highlight the limitations that human kind must work within because as we go beyond these boundaries, nature shows its true strength.

Technological advancements are not all considered positive when one looks at the way that we use it. If species struggle to multiply and survive, as Darwin believes, then we have only figured this out too well. The planet is under stress due to overpopulation and different populations are under stress due to the very technologies that once gave them their terms of survival. To illustrate, medical technologies have allowed people to live longer on average and survive more diseases and sicknesses. This has led to an increase in the population that puts higher demands on the Earth’s resources. At the same time, we use technology to produce more food, and deliver it, often using damaging technology, around the world in order to sustain our large population. Unfortunately, this constant increase in demand for Earth's resources must stop somewhere because there is only so much that the Earth has to offer. The question that dotes on people’s minds today is how will we use technology to save us from the problem we have created; because, technology does not act on its own, we are the ones controlling it.

A large amount of strain placed on the Earth is due to the use of unsustainable, industrial technology. In recent years, scientists have come up with several alternatives to industrial technology, and the replacement of them has proven to be a long, hard process. Our species may not be perfect, nonetheless, we are working hard to find ways of maintaining ourselves as a whole. This balance that our species strives to keep within the laws of nature is in my mind our struggle for survival.