Chapter five - Waleska Reyes

Chapter five - Waleska Reyes

Chapter five opens up with a study conducted by Harvard Psychologists about perception. The experiment consisted of students being shown playing cards and then asked to identify them. Although most cards were normal some of them had been tampered with. At the end of the experiment the students were struggling to identify the cards. This experiment was written in a paper called “On the perception of Incongruity: A Paradigm”.

A scientist named Thomas Kahun found the study interesting and related it to our perception of fields of inquiry. Kahun argued that humans are forced to adapt to changing environments. Kahun uses the phrase “paradigm” as a new way of survival. This idea of paradigm brought about a new idea of “paradigm shifts” which is when we enter a new era and try to use our old methods to explain new science.

Kolbert meets Jan Zalasiewicz who shows her layers of rock from the Ordovician era. The era where many ocean and marine life was very present. It is explained that the first extinction is known as the Ordovician period, where most of the life in the ocean went extinct. The animal graptolite was a marine animal that used to be very common, because of their body structure they were able to endure changes in temperature and pressure, but they became extinct therefore proving that their evolutions became a disadvantage.

Kolbert highlights the theory of glaciation. Glaciation is what causes the temperature of sea levels to drop. It was believed to be the cause of the mass extinction during the Ordovician era. Kolbert also discusses the theory of mass extinction due to an increase in carbon dioxide, increase in oceana temperature, and a decrease in oxygen in the water.

Zalasiewicz presents her theory that rats will one day take over the planet. They travel with humans are reproduce at a rapid rate. Paul Crutzen called the age we are in Anthropocene. Crutzen states that humans have tremendously changed the earth. Crutzen argues that these changes by human will cause a new mass extinction. My question is can humans ensure that their species does not become extinct? 
The theme I related this chapter to is human survival depends on developing practices that will achieve sustainable systems because according to Crutzen’s theory our practices are going to cause a mass extinction. If humans don’t create ways to alleviate the harm they have created then they will ultimately destroy themselves. 

Graptolite fossil: