"The Sixth Extinction" Chapter 3- Matthew Batista

In 1832, the idea of mass extinction due to catastrophes was created by William Whewell. The opposing view of uniformitarianism, led by Charles Lyell at the time, suggested a gradual extinction. In depth, Charles Lyell believed that extinction occurred “so slow that, at any given time, in any given place, it would not be surprising… it to go unnoticed”(48). Kolbert tries to make it clear to the reader that overtime the way people think about processes changes. This directly relates to the theme that science is a process. As time goes on, the way people think changes and new evidence appears that rules out older ideas. For most theories, nothing is set and stone because new fossils and evidence appears everyday. This can also be connected to science constantly changing the way we understand the world because science is also always changing. 

In addition, Lyell also had an interesting idea that species that went extinct could “pop up again”(48). Henry De la Beche, a British Geologist, made fun of Lyell for his “ideas about eternal return”(48). While this idea that Lyell explains does seem wacky it’s interesting to think about. What if species were able to come back? If species could go extinct, why can’t they come back? This goes into the idea of bringing back species. There’s so many species of animals that we haven’t discovered that it would be impossible to know if an extinct specie came back. Just going into the ocean, we see so many different kind of fish and it’s impossible to know which fish we have and have not discovered. Also various fish just appear in new parts of the oceans.

Uniformitarianism, inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, with gradual change in species causing the variety of modern species. In the passage, On the Origin of Species, Darwin states, “The theory of natural selection is grounded on the belief that each new variety, and ultimately each new species, is produced and maintained by having some advantage…”(54-55). Darwin believed that certain species have stronger genetics that give them a better chance at survival. While this ideology does make sense it also is questionable because he used this logic as a justification for slavery and colonization. It’s hard to understand his intent and whether it was malicious or for science. To this day, scientist have disproved a lot of his ideals and it shows that a lot of the things he said were to help colonizers. 

Following Darwin's theories, Kolbert begins to talk about the great auk. The great auk was a large flightless bird that lived in the Northern Hemisphere. It had a large, intricately grooved beak. When the first settlers arrived in Iceland, the auk population was immense. However, the settler found the auks to be “very good and nourishing meat”(60). They also used them for bait, fuel, and they used their feathers for stuffing mattresses. Kolbert uses the great auk to show how humans exploitation of resources leads to extinction. It’s a perfect example of how destructive humans are and it shows the reader that we are the problem.