In my spare time I often read. I read disparate and often seemingly unconnected things: a book about scuba diving on mysterious wrecks in the Atlantic. The naval battles of the Civil War. The world of prehistoric sharks, and the megalodon in particular. Essays on the nature of war. Sun spots.
As I try to step back and look at history, or perhaps History, there is one thing that is a recurring theme. That the planet we call home seems to reset itself biologically. Now, there are some here in the Deep South that would say that is nonsense. That the dinosaurs coincided with man, or perhaps the fossils were planted in the ground just to lead man astray from the true faith. I know that those beliefs aren't widely held, but nonetheless.
The means by which homo sapiens will become extinct on this orb is to my mind less interesting than what type of life will replace us. I suppose that how we become extinct does have some bearing on what will replace us. If the climate turns cold again, perhaps mammals will remain dominant. If the planet warms significantly will reptiles return to the glory of eons past? And what of the seemingly countless varieties of insects? Will they rise up and with their shortened life cycles be able to rapidly evolve to take advantage of changing conditions?
And this is all purely a matter of conjecture. The dust of my remains will have been re-purposed by the planet. Maybe it is more fun, as Frost noted, to wonder if the world will end in fire or ice. I suppose by the end of the world he meant human life. Perhaps he was being more absolute, and meant all life on the planet.
I was following an online conversation about short stories and ran across the link to this one, which I found quite entertaining.
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