Book review of “Should We Go Extinct? A Philosophical Dilemma for Our Unbearable Times” by Todd May, published 2024

“Should We Go Extinct?" by Todd May

The title is a question that the book never definitively answers. As the author gyrates back and forth between yes and no and maybe and maybe not, he leaves it to you to decide for yourself.  I marvel at the brilliance of his mind and the eloquence of his prose, which captivated my interest all the way to the concluding chapter. I had anticipated that a chapter titled, “Conclusion,” would provide a conclusive answer. Alas, that chapter was disappointing, while the book was not.

In addition to the author’s profound reasonings, I appreciate also the well documented and persuasively presented summaries of the many harms that we humans have inflicted upon the planet, including upon our planet’s animals, and especially upon our farm animals. Among our countless crimes against nature, he repeatedly alludes to factory farming as our most heinous. If you are not already a vegetarian, beware reading this book. It will change your life.

As for my answer (I’m glad you asked), I long ago had decided that … wait, not so fast, first here’s a true story. Around 20 years ago, a college student who was compiling a survey randomly asked strangers, “If you were granted one wish, what would it be?” Without hesitation, I answered, “I would wish that every human being disappeared off the face of the Earth.”

Well informed how we are destroying the planet, I foresee that the entire ecosystem will eventually collapse, in which case we humans will be the among the first species to suffer. Simply turning off the electricity for a single day brings us to our knees. Turn it off for a week, and chaos will ensue. For a year, and we will all die either of starvation in the winter or of thirst in the summer. So not much choice here. Either the planet dies and then we die with it, or we perish first and then the planet survive.

For further discussion, please refer to my magazine article, “The Survival of the Fittest Fossils,” 3rd from the top of the webpage at: www.markbraunstein.org/wildlife