To Be or not to Be

While checking the media for new outrages committed by or for the tRump administration I ran across a column in the NYT asking if the extinction of humanity might not be a good thing.  The writer, a professor of philosophy at Clemson University seemed to come down on the side that thinks the loss of out species would probably be an unalloyed benefit to the planet and the other beings who inhabit it.  The author feels that the suffering we are causing animals through the destruction of habitat and the suffering we cause them by factory farming is enough cause (maybe, he says) to merit our own demise.  On the other hand, we are unarguably the apex of evolution on the planet and as such, the producers of Shakespeare, Sophocles, Da Vinci and the pantheon of creative genius our species has wrought ensures we should endure.   While not endorsing extinction, the professor suggests the further procreation of succeeding generations should be seriously re-evaluated by his fellow humans in light of our capacity to cause the suffering of fellow conscious animals and destruction of the planet's ecology.  It is a sobering read, but I doubt many of my fellows would pause for very long in the race to see how fast we can destroy the cradle of our civilization.