On Monday, The New York Times printed an op-ed from Clemson philosophy professor Todd May. Its cheery, holiday-themed title: “Would Human Extinction Be a Tragedy?” Yes, he answers – but only because we’ve done it to ourselves. In terms of the loss to the world, probably not.
May begins by acknowledging that the experience of “humans coming to an end would be a bad thing” – or at least it would cause some pain. He is agnostic on the question of whether “human begins as a species deserve to die out.” The question May wonders about is whether it would be a “tragedy if the planet no longer contained human beings.” His conclusion: “it would be a tragedy and that it might be a good thing.”
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