If the world ends (for people), who would care?

Question

Would rats mourn our loss?

My guess is it would not be a very significant event. We may prove to be far less precious than we like to believe. If we befall a nuclear holocaust, what about the rats? On nuclear test sites on islands in the Pacific, rats have amazingly re-inhabited places that are inhospitable to people. Now I think the rats would miss us dearly. We provide food and shelter for them and often make life more comfortable them with our structures and food production. Ravens, rock doves, cockroaches, house cats and the like would miss us dearly. We'd best be careful or we will be dearly missed by those species, though our demise would be cause for celebration by many others. Would the universe care? Wouldn't it continue the experiment or perhaps give up on life forms? God aside, imagine our deity would be disappointed.

Answer 1

Interesting way to look at things. Of course nobody would be around to care. Cats, dogs, cows and other domestic animals would miss us a lot - some could return to a feral state, but by and large, these animals were bred to fit our needs and are best adapted to living with humans.
But what you're asking is essentially the same as asking: If you died, would you care? Those closer to you would mourn you, but to the vast majority of people, you'd be an obituary in the newspaper like all others, if even that. And as for you yourself, would you care? It's the living that have a problem with people dying, not those who are gone.
Our presence may not be that important to most species on the planet, but we remain a rather unique species. The presence of human culture on earth is a fact that, in itself, should trigger our amazement. It is absolutely unique of all geological ages to have a species that is conscious of itself, that creates images which have meaning and that can transform its environment to such a degree as we do.
Would we be missed? Well, no. There would be nobody around to miss us. Would something interesting be gone forever? I'd have to say yes, but no creature on earth would have the conceptual understanding necessary to understand its disappearance, as we happen to be the only ones who seem capable of making these kinds of judgements anyway.
But thanks for your question - an interesting subject. Perhaps if people thought about these things more, we'd be more grateful for what we have and more respectful of ourselves and the world around us.

Answer 2

Well the universe, and all sentient beings that are less intellectually developed than ourselves, would not care, not only because we don’t do much for them, or because of the fact that we are parasitic to this planet and its animals, but also because the universe and other organisms lack the awareness to care period. They merely respond and react. There is no sense of empathy, sympathy, or ultimate aim or purpose from the inanimate universe, or from other living organisms that exists within its known boundaries. Hence to use terms like care or mourn commits what philosophers like to call the “fallacy of the stolen concept”. Essentially, notions like caring and mourning are human emotions, and can only be spoken about, in any coherent fashion, within the course of human interaction. To speak about caring and mourning from an animal perspective or to apply this to the universe as a whole is to divorce these words from their context, and therefore empty them of any meaning.

Now will the world look different if we are gone? Absolutely. That fact should be self-evident. No creature’s disappearance will have a greater, and dare I say more positive impact on animal life, and the ecosystem as a whole, than the disappearance of the most exploitive organism known – MAN!

Answer 3

Human beings will fight for survival, so in the end, we will all regret that we were not able to save our kind.

As for the animals/plants, they may not notice, or care, or they may even rejoice that the weird two legged things with scary noisy chainsaws will never again destroy their habitat.

Ok, actually, I beleive that almost all creatures on earth are part of a delicate balance. Humans, even with their insane ways of destroying certain habitats, keep other animals from overpopulating. So even if animals won't notice, there may be some type of overpopulation. In that way, we will be noticed and missed.

Answer 4

Did the rats mourn when the dinosaurs were obliterated 65 million years ago? Don't make me laugh, it just means they have to start all over....

Answer 5

Believe me, if we humans were snuffed out in one fell swoop, the animals should all celebrate. It is closer to reality that they will go on to reclaim the planet like nothing happened and their collective indifference would indicate just how self-important we think we are.

Answer 6

r life ends forr millions every day,animal and man ,there is a mourning for a time for all. a great disater would kill everything,none left to care.this kill off has happened before,and will again.Our minds are to finite to grasp any reality,

Answer 7

Maybe some of our pets would care. Also, those of us who are the last ones to die, watching all the rest of us disappear, will be deeply saddened and depressed about it.

Answer 8

The animals, of course, or better all the animals expect ,,us''.

Answer 9

my spiritual self and many many others would care......we would see the lessons learned and be prepared for the next challenge.

Answer 10

no one would care, hell if everone died and i was still here i wouldnt care, so i know that no animal is going to give a sh*t