MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Location: file:///C:/EE4BB24E/ACaseofMalignantMaladaptation.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" A Case of Malignant Maladaptation Human - Occupation of Global Ecosystems

A Case of Malignant Maladaptation:

Human Occupation of Global Ecosystems=

 

Warren M. Hern, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.

Associate professor Adjunct

Department of Anthropology

 

Research Associate

Environment & Behavior Program

Institute of Behavioral Scien= ce

 

University of Colorado

Boulder, Colorado <= st1:PostalCode w:st=3D"on">80309-0233

 

 

Presented at the Symposium: Why Adaptation Becomes Maladaptive: The Dynamics of Population Growth and Resources.  161st Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, February 21, 1994    San Francisco, California

 

 

 

Role  of human culture in malignant change:

 

Provides adaptations to overcome biological & ecological limitations of human organism=

 

 

Adap= tations  (<= /span>high survival value)

        &= nbsp; Language

        &= nbsp; Agriculture

        &= nbsp; Weapons

        &= nbsp; Shelter

        &= nbsp; Medical care

        &= nbsp; Fertility limitation

        &= nbsp; Elimination of predators (of humans)

        &= nbsp; Exploitation of organic and inorganic environment

        &= nbsp; Dominance of ecosystems

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maladaptations  (= zero survival value)

        &= nbsp; Destruction of non-human environment (deforestation, pollution, etc)<= /p>

        &= nbsp; Simplification of ecosystems (agriculture, urbanization, grazing)

        &= nbsp; Loss of biodiversity (flora and fauna); increased extinction rates

        &= nbsp; Unrestrained global population growth

        &= nbsp; Dominance of all ecosystems

 

 

Characteristics of malignant proce= ss

·      =   Rapid, uncontrolled growth

·      =   Invasion &a= mp; destruction of adjacent normal tissues

·      =   Metastasis (distant colonization)

·      =   De-differen= tiation (loss of specialized appearance, morphology, and function at individual cell level)

  

     (At least two characteristics are necessary to establish the diagnosis of malignancy)

 

 

Comparisons of human population wi= th malignant processes:

·      =   Rapid, uncontrolled growth of global population

·      =   Invasion and destruction of all planetary ecosystems

·      =   Colonizatio= n and urbanization; settlement fission

·      =   De-differen= tiated through biology and culture

 

 

De-differentiation in human proces= s

   “De-differentiation” of humans biologically= & through culture means:

·      =   Biologicall= y, humans are unspecialized, and they are virtually identical throughout the planet

·      =   Culture per= mits humans to be undifferentiated exploiters of all ecosystems

·      =   At aggregate level, human communities are increasingly undifferentiated in morphology, structure, function, appearance, invasiveness of adjacent ar= eas

 

 

A malignant neoplasm is “…an uncontrolled new growth of tissue…which has the power of growth and multiplication relatively free from the usual restraints…”   Anderson, Pathology, 1960, p. 443

 

“…once a cell becomes malignant it does not revert to normal.”  <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Anderson, Patho= logy, 1960, p. 443

 

 

 

 

How Many Times Has The Human Popul= ation Doubled?

 

        &= nbsp; 5.6 x 109  =3D  2x  where x is the number of doublings= ,

 

        =   x  = =3D    ln 5.6 x 109    =3D    22.446     =3D    32.38

        =             &nb= sp;    ln 2        =            0.693

 

        &= nbsp; The 32nd doubling was reac= hed in 1976

 

 

 

In organismic cancer:

 

&n= bsp;         A malignant tumor at 1 cm diameter (1 gm) contains

 

&n= bsp;            = ;      109  (1 billion) cells         (30 doublings)

 

&n= bsp;         Death of the host organism occurs at 37-40 doublings

 

 

 

Current human population doubling times and growth rates:

 

        &= nbsp; 1950 -  2.5 billion; 1987 – 5 billion

        &= nbsp; Doubling time: 87 years; Mean growth = rate: 1.87% / year

 

&n= bsp;         1956 – 2.8 billion;  1993 – 5.6 billion

        &= nbsp; Doubling time: 37 years; Mean growth = rate: 1.87% per year

 

 

At the current rate of growth (1.9= % per year), the human population will reach the following doublings in the years= :

 

&n= bsp;            = ;      37 doublings – 170 years   (c. 2165)

 

        &= nbsp;          40 doublings  -  280 years   (c. 2275)

 

 

 

 

Human Species as a Cancer on the P= lanet:

 

&n= bsp;            = ;      Analogy?

        &= nbsp;          Metaphor?

        &= nbsp;          Hypothesis?

        &= nbsp;          Diagnosis?

 

No one ever died from an analogy

 

 

If cancer is the diagnosis, what is the prognosis?

 

A malignant process continues unti= l the host organism has ceased to function (it dies)

 

 

 

 

 

NOT

Homo sapiens=

“Wise man”

 

BUT

Homo ecophagus

“The man who devours the ecosystem”<= o:p>

 

 

 

 

&n= bsp;         “It is with the coming of man that a vast hole seems to open in nature, a vast black whirlpool spinning faster and faster, consuming flesh, stones, soil, minerals, sucking down the lightning, wrenching power from the atom, until = the ancient sounds of nature are drowned in the cacaphony of something which is= no longer nature, something instead which is loose and knocking at the world’s heart, something demonic and no longer planned – escape= d, as it may be –spewed out of nature, contending in a final giant’= ;s game against its master.”

 

Loren Eiseley, The Firmament of Time, 1960