Are humans flexible enough to escape the fate of every “successful” species that lacks competition—i.e. the headlong consumption of all available resources until there’s nothing left?
By luck or superior adaptation, a few species manage to escape their limits, at least for a while. Nature’s success stories, they are like Gause’s protozoans; the world is their petri dish. Their populations grow exponentially; they take over large areas, overwhelming their environment as if no force opposed them. Then they annihilate themselves, drowning in their own wastes or starving from lack of food.
No, we can’t escape our fate because it’s never been done in the history of life on Earth—it’s not how organisms behave.
Yes, we can escape our fate because we’ve demonstrated our ability to change for the better (e.g. abolition of slavery).
Discuss.