Do you think the world would be a different place?

[OfMiceandMen]

Do you think the world would be a different place if the human race had an apex predator that stocked us on a daily basis?

When you look at nature, the animal kingdom has a hierarchy/pyramid of predators that keep the species populations in check. What if we had an apex predator to keep the human population in check, do you think we would hunt it and/or try to overcome it, or just accept it's presence, take our chances on a daily basis and like most animals further down the food chain, expect certain losses because that's nature.

I think it would definitely prioritize our lifestyles. The first thing to go would be the fast food chains, as everyone would have to keep fit/lean to outrun/escape the apex predator. It's either do or die.

We used to be further down the food chain, why did it change and is it good thing?

Updates

1 y

When I speak of an apex predator to us, I mean a predator that is better, smarter and faster than we are. Not like any animal we've ever faced in past.

[NamerOfStars]

Only very briefly. We DID have apex predators who periodically hunted us. Saber-toothed tigers, short-faced bears, Haast's eagle, the list goes on and on. What happened to them? What does humanity do when confronted with a larger, stronger, hostile creature that wants to eat us, and we have no weapons at hand?

We invent them. We build our arsenals, march out in force, and scourge the bastards from the face of the planet. The only predators left that even CAN eat us are those who're rare and distant (like sharks), those who rarely attack humans and can be easily avoided (like crocodiles), and those who're smart enough to avoid us in the first place (like bears).

People see how efficiently humans destroy each other, and conclude that we're fragile, vulnerable, and easy to kill. We're none of those things; we're just really, REALLY good at killing. When we found megalania, the largest reptile ever to share the Earth with humans, we seemed to have met our match at last. Picture a Komodo dragon that was 20 feet long and weighed 4,000 pounds, with skin even the mighty Clovis spearpoint (which won't be invented for another forty thousand years, by the way) couldn't pierce. These creatures RULED the forests of Australia.

Wait, forests? In Australia? Yes. And their current absence (to say nothing of the ozone hole above where they used to be) explains what happened.

[OfMiceandMen]

Agreed, we gave the apex predators a good run for their money back then, but we still suffered loses. I am talking a predator of similar value to us or better. One that can create weapons similar to us or better.

[HawkPerception]

Imagine flies when they get caught randomly in a spider's net and watch their predator crawl towards them. Or looking an anaconda in its eyes as it squeezes you and crushes your bones then watch as you sink into a dark abyss when it swallows you. Imagine living in the wild without any weapons with a pack of lions or hyenas.

It would be a very different world if humans were not apex predators. We'd live in fear each and every single day, super wary of our surroundings. Just like how rabbits or birds immediately fly or hop away as soon as they see humans. They're conditioned with that fear for survival.

[OfMiceandMen]

Exactly, people would be on edge and constantly in fear, the economy would collapse because people would not be thinking about tomorrow. They would live in the now and just try to protect their families at all cost.

[Agape93]

Absolutely. Homesteads, towns etc. Would be surrounded by fences or walls to keep it out, people would be more likely to own and know how to use weapons etc.

[OfMiceandMen]

Agreed, it would change our entire lifestyle into one of retreat and security.

[Agape93]

Yeap. I'd personally likely live underground

[OfMiceandMen]

Does underground living actually work for people? I thought we had to have sunlight/melatonin to survive/be healthy.

[Agape93]

Works for me, and that's just where I live. Of I have a wall around my property I can still grow shit or sunbathe.

[O_Canada]

In the wild, uh,
Humans must withstand,
Life's fierce push and shove,
Nature's own command.

Fear grips our hearts,
Eyes on the sunrise,
Chase or flee, we will see,

Hide from the shade,
In the savanna,
Running wild and free.

Would we withstand,
Or find harmony,
With fate's grand agenda,
Living cautiously,
Facing the drama,
In nature's decree.

[OfMiceandMen]

Like the poem format.👍

[O_Canada]

It's not a poem. It's my name.

[OfMiceandMen]

I see... need it sung to me then.

[RebelinSteel]

Unless it was bullet proof, poison proof, it would not be a predator for long. It would need to be hugely intelligent and or a tool user. Humans developed weapons and tactics to hunt predators such as wolves and in places wiped them out. How would an apex predator manage against heat seeking drones, IR seeking drones, armour piercing rounds including tank AP rounds etc.

[OfMiceandMen]

Perhaps, the predator is like us. Similar to the human race and capable of weaponizing itself. It could very well create weapons we've never imagined depending on whether it is more advanced.

I am not saying it has to be like a dinosaur or some other animal, it could be a species variation/hybrid of us. Something faster, smarter and way more efficient.

I see hybrid species in nature that outcompete the original species all the time. Why could that not happen to us.

[RebelinSteel]

Then humans would unite against it, there would be a global war and unless it has large numbers it would be annihilated. If it was an Apex predator then we would not have emerged from the Stone Age.
Humans advance hugely due to war and conflict, another predator would have pushed us to excel. There were Neanderthals, they went extinct.

[Anonymous]

So a predator capable of understanding it's own existence? Because that's the only way it could be apex to us. And if that were the case we probably would have either been rendered extinct or turned into thier pets or slaves. Just think of it as though the planet were conquered by aliens.

[OfMiceandMen]

I guess if it were an instant thing, if would have to be aliens.

[Opinion Owner]

Well not even speaking in an instant. How would we build all that we have as a species if everytime we tried a predatory species carried a few of us off.
This question reminds me of a program about the colonization. And in the program it talks about about humans as a species change the environment of everywhere they live to suit them. But since life on earth is pretty much suited to it's environment. That if we went somewhere else it might make more sense for us to genetic engineering ourselves to be more conducive to our environments.

[OfMiceandMen]

Sounds like an interesting program. I often thought what it would be like if we had one species that ruled over us in a predatorial way.

[AviatorTom]

Someone has to be at the top of the food chain... right now, it's humans. If someone/something was above us, we'd have to deal with it, just like all the creatures lower on the food chain. It would definitely change some things.

[LiamJHayden]

The truth is that humans are the apex predator.

[OfMiceandMen]

That is the truth, but what if it wasn't? How do you think life would change for us.

[abc3643]

No.

Because there WERE apex predators (and there are a few still) that came after us. But we have thumbs and brains and curiosity and are social. These factors led to us successfully wiping them out and other threats as well.

[Billlewis]

Maybe, but not overwhelmingly different. We'd still be burdened by two pretty formidable foes -- jealousy, and the greatest enemy we've ever faced as a nation, the corporate media.

[NathanDavis]

one of these days... nature we'll get tired of us

and mosquitoes alone... will do the job, lol