I know that viruses are in that sketchy "part living, part not" category. But I thought about this rather randomly at work today: by eradicating smallpox and rinderpest from the world, humanity actively and knowingly brought an end of a "species" from the earth (not including samples frozen in storage). I also know that genocide isn't exactly the correct word to use here, but I'm using it for lack of another term.
Did humanity commit a form of species-based genocide by eradicating these two diseases? If so, was it unjust or immoral in that we wiped a species off the earth? Would this sort of action against creatures deemed more "alive" (such as against predators in developing countries) fall under a different category?
(This is not a political thread; it is a "food for thought" thread).
Did humanity commit a form of species-based genocide by eradicating these two diseases? If so, was it unjust or immoral in that we wiped a species off the earth? Would this sort of action against creatures deemed more "alive" (such as against predators in developing countries) fall under a different category?
(This is not a political thread; it is a "food for thought" thread).