Chris Doughty

And without these large mammals like the gomp, the fears, mammoths, giant ground sloths, these forest understories are a lot darker. And so our model would say, okay, well, it's dark. The seeds want to grow bigger again. But the interesting thing was we couldn't actually say that because there's another enormous ecosystem engineer that is dominant on the planet now, which is us. Oh.

Exactly, yeah. So we've taken on the ecological roles of some of these now extinct animals. Oh, how so? Through logging and, you know, creating farms, creating grasslands. Like, you know, it's not uncommon for, you know, larger animals to create grazing lawns. We just call it agriculture. You know, they're excellent at distributing nutrients across the landscape.

Exactly, yeah. So we've taken on the ecological roles of some of these now extinct animals. Oh, how so? Through logging and, you know, creating farms, creating grasslands. Like, you know, it's not uncommon for, you know, larger animals to create grazing lawns. We just call it agriculture. You know, they're excellent at distributing nutrients across the landscape.

Exactly, yeah. So we've taken on the ecological roles of some of these now extinct animals. Oh, how so? Through logging and, you know, creating farms, creating grasslands. Like, you know, it's not uncommon for, you know, larger animals to create grazing lawns. We just call it agriculture. You know, they're excellent at distributing nutrients across the landscape.

We're not so good at moving nutrients, but we dig up a lot of... You know, elements and, you know, spread it across the planet. And so a lot of these big animals used to consume a lot of this vegetation that, you know, when they went extinct, you got a big increase in fire. So, yeah, there's a lot of interesting ecological changes that occurred once these animals went extinct.

We're not so good at moving nutrients, but we dig up a lot of... You know, elements and, you know, spread it across the planet. And so a lot of these big animals used to consume a lot of this vegetation that, you know, when they went extinct, you got a big increase in fire. So, yeah, there's a lot of interesting ecological changes that occurred once these animals went extinct.

We're not so good at moving nutrients, but we dig up a lot of... You know, elements and, you know, spread it across the planet. And so a lot of these big animals used to consume a lot of this vegetation that, you know, when they went extinct, you got a big increase in fire. So, yeah, there's a lot of interesting ecological changes that occurred once these animals went extinct.

And I actually have an interesting little tidbit for, you know, we are King Kong. And I don't mean that as a metaphor. I mean that we're metabolically King Kong. Wait, what do you mean by that? Humans, you know, use other energy. We heat our houses. You know, we have fires.

And I actually have an interesting little tidbit for, you know, we are King Kong. And I don't mean that as a metaphor. I mean that we're metabolically King Kong. Wait, what do you mean by that? Humans, you know, use other energy. We heat our houses. You know, we have fires.

And I actually have an interesting little tidbit for, you know, we are King Kong. And I don't mean that as a metaphor. I mean that we're metabolically King Kong. Wait, what do you mean by that? Humans, you know, use other energy. We heat our houses. You know, we have fires.

And so if you figure out how much energy we use, like by burning oil on top of like everything we eat, you could predict what size animal would be. Oh. And so we would be 8 billion King Kongs. We're metabolically 8 billion King Kongs running around the planet. And so, you know, we in the Western world consume a lot more energy than typical global citizen. We might be the Ultrasaurus.

And so if you figure out how much energy we use, like by burning oil on top of like everything we eat, you could predict what size animal would be. Oh. And so we would be 8 billion King Kongs. We're metabolically 8 billion King Kongs running around the planet. And so, you know, we in the Western world consume a lot more energy than typical global citizen. We might be the Ultrasaurus.

And so if you figure out how much energy we use, like by burning oil on top of like everything we eat, you could predict what size animal would be. Oh. And so we would be 8 billion King Kongs. We're metabolically 8 billion King Kongs running around the planet. And so, you know, we in the Western world consume a lot more energy than typical global citizen. We might be the Ultrasaurus.

I haven't done that actual calculation. We might even be bigger than King Kong. So we're really changing this long-term evolutionary trajectory of the planet in interesting ways. But of course, who knows where we're going to be in a thousand years versus a million years. That's something that our models cannot predict, unfortunately.

I haven't done that actual calculation. We might even be bigger than King Kong. So we're really changing this long-term evolutionary trajectory of the planet in interesting ways. But of course, who knows where we're going to be in a thousand years versus a million years. That's something that our models cannot predict, unfortunately.

I haven't done that actual calculation. We might even be bigger than King Kong. So we're really changing this long-term evolutionary trajectory of the planet in interesting ways. But of course, who knows where we're going to be in a thousand years versus a million years. That's something that our models cannot predict, unfortunately.

Yeah, I mean, I'd like people to reflect on our ecosystems co-evolved with these big animals. They're used to having these big animals both as nutrient distributors, you know, affecting forest structure. They play really critical roles and now they're missing.

Yeah, I mean, I'd like people to reflect on our ecosystems co-evolved with these big animals. They're used to having these big animals both as nutrient distributors, you know, affecting forest structure. They play really critical roles and now they're missing.

Yeah, I mean, I'd like people to reflect on our ecosystems co-evolved with these big animals. They're used to having these big animals both as nutrient distributors, you know, affecting forest structure. They play really critical roles and now they're missing.

And so that's kind of like our motivating factor for creating these models is to, you know, say something about our future world on big spatial scales over long periods of time.