Limon Miah- Chapter 2 Journal

In this chapter of The Sixth Extinction, Kolbert explores how the idea of extinction came about and was explored by past scientists by introducing the character, Georges Cuvier, and his work behind the American Mastodon. The idea of any kind of extinction was extremely controversial and a sensitive topic, which can be predicted to be due to people's perception of how the world works through a religious lens, rather than a scientific one. Cuvier studies American Mastodon fossils found in the Ohio region of North America. His initial conclusion was that over time a huge amount of species died out throughout history which he later states occurred due to multiple cataclysmic events, thus the first introduction of the extinction theory became known. Cuvier then presented this at a lecture at the Paris Museum of Natural History, using the fossil remains found in Ohio and Russia as support. However, this theory was at first ridiculed and instead others proposed alternative theories such as the bones belonging to a mix of two or three different animals as well as a new unknown species, a theory supported by Thomas Jefferson himself. Despite this though, by the end of Cuvier's life, he was praised for his work as it paved the pathway for scientists to further explore this idea of extinction. On the other hand, it is important to note that Kolbert states that with Cuvier's scientific breakthrough also came with several flaws, for example, he did not understand what lead to the species dying out, and even argued with Jean- Baptiste Lamarck on the evolution of animals, Cuvier stating that evolution was impossible as a small change in an animal would limit its survival. Kolbert concluded the chapter with an idea that wasn't discussed  at all throughout the chapter, the fact that at the same that the Mammoths went extinct in the megafauna extinction period, “this wave coincided with the spread of modern humans” (p. 46), thus foreshadowing the thought that humans were a cause for this extinction to take action.

An APES theme that this chapter supports is that Science is a process and that it constantly changes the way we understand the world. Throughout the chapter, Kolbert states the changes in ideas that Cuvier goes through and how one idea evolves into a different one as new evidence is discovered. As with any new idea, Cuvier was criticized early in his career, however, with more evidence and time, scientists and the general public came to start accepting the idea of an extinction. A prominent example of science changing the way we understand the world is when Cuvier changed his idea of a single mass extinction wiping out a species and instead as he gathered more evidence on extinct species stated that “There had, he decided, been multiple cataclysms. Life on Earth has often been disturbed by terrible events, he wrote. Living organisms… have been the victims of these catastrophes”(p.44). (R) Kolbert's implementation of this example makes it evident that a theory can always be proved right or wrong with the right evidence and so just because there is one understanding, it doesn't mean that it’s the right one. Cuvier himself argued against his own theory and changed it to fit the progressing scientific discoveries of the time, just as he did with several other popular theories of the time. One takeaway I received from this chapter is that because, for a large portion of history, there is no recorded evidence of how and what happened in the world, any idea can be supported or refuted and it is up to new scientific discoveries for humans to either change or strengthen their understanding of the world that we live in.