Would Human Extinction Be a Tragedy?

The above question is asked in The New York Times by Todd May, a philosophy professor. His answer: “I want to suggest, at least tentatively, both that it would be a tragedy and that it might just be a good thing.”

My reactions:

• Incredulous stare.
• There are Ouden worshippers (cf. Past Master by R. A. Lafferty) out there.
• Professor May's concern for animal suffering is clearly zoocentric. Don't plants get a say? Humanity has been very good for plants owing to all the CO₂ fertilizer we've been adding to the air.
• He's also for gun control. Shouldn't a philosophy professor have a need for logical consistency?
• Philosophy isn't all pointless bulshytt; some of it is harmful bulshytt.
• Note to philosophers: In That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis, Frost was not the hero.