Geological Time Scale - Anthropocene?

[ebacon]

Interesting article on scientists debating whether we have entered a new geological time period, one marked by man's effects on geology. It seems the debate hinges, in part, on whether periods should be marked only be geological change or whether human involvement can be included in the considerations.

The earliest time period is marked by the appearance of fossils, i.e. living creatures. It seems to me that humans, also being living creatures, are fair game in the consideration. To leave humans out would appear to put us at a level superior to other living things. I would not be ready to vote to go that far. IMO we are all part of the ecosystem. If we imagine ourselves as independent of other living things then I think we would have what Carl Sagan called an "imagined self-importance" in his Pale Blue Dot speech.

What do you think? Are you more important than snails? Dolphins? Orangutans? Roses?

The scope of the question is a neat exercise between science and philosophy me thinks.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2...ocene-holocene

Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupToqz1e2g