Scientists have declared that the human species will be extinct after the sixth great ‘wipe out’ if they don’t do anything about their survival.
I have recently read in a newspaper that five wipeouts had already occurred in human history and the next ‘wipeout’, the scientists say, is going to happen in approximately 150 years. The cockroaches and the dandelions have the most chances of survival, the scientists proclaim. The cockroaches were here before dinosaurs and mammals and so were the dandelions, and these are sure to outlive the human species.
We humans think that cockroaches and dandelions are not only worthless but the most annoying things in our lives. On other hand, according to latest research, weeds and cockroaches are more suited to survival than any other species on the planet. They had survived the worst five calamities in the universe and they are expected to escape the sixth one.
If we can develop in us the same qualities that cockroaches and weeds have, we will have a fair chance of continued existence on earth too. Ironically, the survival qualities of cockroaches are the ones that aggravate us the most. They reproduce rapidly and in huge numbers. They are here, there, and everywhere in spite of tons of pesticides used against them. If one cockroach manages to enter a house, it becomes a permanent residence and every off spring has a birth right to live there happily-ever-after his or her birth.
The second quality they possess is that they can adjust to any environment. We humans could not think of surviving in the extreme temperatures the cockroaches comfortably live in. You must have seen living roaches coming out of a heated oven, dancing merrily on a baked cake or must have witnessed them emerging from a piece of ice, a little disoriented but alive, with all their limbs intact.
The third quality the cockroaches are born with is the speed with which they move. They run faster than the fastest human being. If given an opportunity to run in Olympics, I’m sure that they can break all the records in all the races, including the Marathon race.
And the fourth quality they have been blessed with is that they can eat almost anything. I’ve seen them coming hale and hearty from the places where there was absolutely no food. I think they can live on rotten wood and rust.
Now, let us see what qualities the dandelions — that we hate so much and call them weeds out of spite — have. These weeds are tough by birth and fighters by nature. They do not go under any military training like the Marines, yet survival is their middle name. They grow much faster than grass or any useful plant. It seems that they grow faster than they can be rooted out. The weed killers might help them in hibernating but do not really kill them. That is how they are as alive and flourishing the next time you have a look at your lawn. They can also teach us a lot about survival in most hostile circumstances.
Despite the differences, fortunately, we humans already possess some of the qualities of these insects and dandelions, but, unfortunately, all nations have only a few and are deprived of others. For example, there are some nations, which like the dandelions, can adjust to all kinds of environments. The Third World countries are already accustomed to cold and heat, and natural calamities like floods and famines.
Some nations have other survival qualities: Americans move faster than any other nation. The whole population is already moving from state to state. They can eat almost anything — even fast food. They have survived the Civil War, the War of Independence, the Great Depression, the hottest World Wars and a very, very Cold War. It means that they can bear the heat and the cold to some extent. If they cannot, they try to change the environment to their advantage. They control the temperatures by using air conditioning in summer and heating in winter. They also go for skiing to get accustomed to cold weather and dirt biking to beat the heat. Some European countries do the same. But most of these countries are definitely very poor in one category — reproduction. They are far inferior to cockroaches and dandelions in pace and quantity, and are behind most of the Third World countries. They should do something about it if it is so vital for their survival.
They should beg people who are experts in population growth for help to know the secrets of this skill and expertise. The governments should give incentives and money to couples for having more children as some of them already do. But there is a risk in that: if the human population grows beyond control before the sixth wipe out, the scientists might start thinking of inventing and using human pesticides.
Anyway, I think from now on we should show some respect to cockroaches and dandelions — they are going to inherit the earth after all.
Scientists have declared that the human species will be extinct after the sixth great ‘wipe out’ if they don’t do anything about their survival.
