[Taxacom] article on taxonomy

[Bob Mesibov]

Hi, Rich.

"Clearly you've completely misunderstood my angle on this"

I don't think so. You've repeatedly argued that bioinformatics tools will make taxonomists' work more efficient, so that they'll have more time to discover and they'll discover more when doing so. I dispute that. I haven't misunderstood you, I just don't agree with you. Where is the evidence for the positive return of investment you envisage?

'Don't have kids'

Sorry, your Darwinian slant on who should have kids is way, way too late. I don't care if it's biophilics or biophobes who stop/slow their breeding. There are *now* too many people squeezing out all other species. Worrying about who should breed and who not is a time-waster even worse than the notorious 'stop at two, that only replaces the parents'. Sure, if both parents dropped dead after child 2 is born. But they don't drop dead, and if they're a young couple they can live to see a happy throng of descendants before they die of old age, and the whole of that throng is what puts the pressure on land, water, climate and biodiversity.
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
(03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
Website: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/mesibov.html