Comment Re:Research in to warmth resistant coral (Score 1) 39
Also the definition of "natural" seems up in the air. Humans naturally evolved on the earth, and have naturally adapted the use of tools, and farming, and using the natural resources available to us. What makes us any less natural than any other animal? Also the idea that humans are no longer subject to natural selection seems a bit silly to me. There are plenty of things that influence a humans ability to reproduce. Children born with crippling disease often dont go on to reproduce, therefore evolution of humanity selects against crippling disease.
The goal of human existence as a whole should not be to leave no trace, but to improve the world and universe. Granted, this does not mean that we should rape and pillage mother nature for her resources, but the goal should not be to put the entire planet on "pause", preventing any further change or adaptation, but to try and live harmoniously with whats here. If that means attempting to repair corral reefs, or even genetic engineering change in those reefs, then whose to say that is wrong? The only risk is that if we do something like engineer a better algae, we risk missing subtle properties of the current algae for behaving as it does that could have even worse effects somewhere else in the ecosystem.
Also, if reef A dies due to whatever factor, does another area in the ocean become more compatible for supporting a reef? Perhaps the corral migrate on their own over long periods of time. Maybe the solution isnt to attempt and fix existing reefs, but to spawn entirely new ones in water that was formerly too cold to support a reef.