Edward O. Wilson

Edward O. Wilson, "Is Humanity Suicidal?"

Edward O. Wilson (1929- ) was born in Birmingham, Alabama and earned both a B.S. (1949) and an M.S. (1950) from the University of Alabama, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1955. Wilson's taught entomology and biology at Harvard for more than forty years. His books include The Insect Societies (1971), On Human Nature (1978), The Ants (1990), which he co-wrote with Bert Hölldobler, and The Future of Life (2002). Wilson's also a frequent contributor to journals such as Systematic Zoology, Ecology, and Nature. Among many awards and honors, Wilson has won the National Medal of Science and two Pulitzer Prizes (for On Human Nature and for The Ants). "Is Humanity Suicidal?" is a stark look at what we're currently doing to the earth. It was first published in the NewYorkTimes in 1993 and reprinted in In Search of Nature (1996).

CONTENT

1. Explain the "juggernaut theory of human nature."
2. What negative hereditary traits of human beings does the author mention?
3. Define the words fecund and androcentric.
4. Name the two schools concerned with the fate of human beings that Wilson discusses.
5. Where is one area the author points to as having a high birth rate?
6. List some examples of things scientists don't know about our biosphere.
7. With what imaginary scenario does Wilson begin his essay? Where does the scenario take place? What time period does it cover? What is "the Moment"?

STRATEGY AND STYLE

1. In paragraph twenty-six Wilson compares the size of the rain forests to the U.S. and the amount they are shrinking to the state of Florida. How might such comparisons help a non-scientist understand a scientific piece? Where else in the essay does he do similar things?
2. Review your answer to Content question g.) above. Into what special position does Wilson put the observers from Jupiter? How would this position change if they were, say, earthling scientists? What does he gain by employing this literary device?
3. The author makes mention of his tone of voice in paragraph seventeen. What, specifically, in the preceding three paragraphs, is different about his tone when discussing the exemptionalists as compared to the environmentalists? What effect does the questioning in paragraph fourteen have on his introduction of the former group?
4. Where, exactly, does the author answer the question posed in the title? What do you make of this placement?
5. Wilson compares putting the biosphere back together to something else in paragraph thirty-two. Complete the comparison. How can you tie in this mental image to his thoughts about the relationship of humanity to the environment?

1. Recall a movie you've seen in which the fate of the earth was threatened—by asteroids, by dinosaurs, by space invaders, or something else—but the heroes managed to defeat the threat. How did they do it? How can you link these images to the scenarios in your text?
2. How comfortable are you reading about science? How about ecology in particular? How did your comfort level in this area affect your reading here?

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUSTAINED WRITING

1. Review your answer to Content question d.) above. If you had to pick one, would you say you fell into the exemptionalism camp or the environmentalism camp? Write an essay describing yourself, linking your thoughts to your reading, and making clear why you picked one side and not the other.
2. Wilson describes a "myopic fog," a survival advantage passed on to us from the hunter-gatherers that encourages focusing on the present and only the recent past and near future. Write an essay that details two important ramifications on the environment of such an inherited trait and what we might be able to do about them.

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Review Wilson's comments about the population of Nigeria in paragraph ten. How close is the population of that country right now to prediction he gives for 2010. Is the country on track to reach 216 million people by then? Research the country's recent history to explain any discrepancies.

WEB CONNECTION

This is the homepage of Harvard's Department of Entomology's Museum of Comparative Zoology, with which Wilson has had a close relationship over the years. Here you can browse historical collections and search a database.

LINKS

Biographical

This interview with Wilson at Salon.com contains lots of biographical information and a photo.

The Alabama Academy of Honor prepared this biographical sketch of Wilson when he was inducted there in 1995.

This page has a brief biography, a photo of Wilson, and a picture of the book cover of In Search of Nature.

Bibliographical

"The Biological Basis of Morality" is the title of this etext essay that Wilson wrote for The Atlantic magazine in 1998.

Wilson gave this interview following the publication of his book, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. This page also has a link to the excerpt of the book.

How about some multimedia? Take a look at this slide show by Wilson about the extinction of ancient forests, given at the U.S. Capitol in 1998.

Cultural

This page contains the citation for Wilson's Pulitzer Prize, which he won in 1991 for The Ants. Do you recognize any of the other names there? How would you find out more about them?

Do you like bugs, or do you just squish them? If you'd like to know more about them, visit bugbios.com, an "entomological database of very cool bugs."

Has reading Wilson's work fostered an interest in researching the field of sociobiology? You should take a look at this directory on the topic at Google.com. Guess whose name is featured prominently?