Are Humans Parasites?

I'm reading a book by a Norwegian author that suggests humans are parasites engaged in collective suicide. At first it seemed a bit drastic, but it intrigued me. I did A Level biology so I know what a parasite is - a living organism that lives on or inside another organism, (the Host), & harms it. The analogy is that our World is the Host & we are destroying it. 

Well, actually I can't argue with that. We are polluting our world in all manner of ways. Man made Climate change is proof of that, as are dying species, oceans & rivers. We are destroying the forests & ecosystems that are a vital part of the whole of our complex world. We are grabbing natural resources that are finite & in doing so we destroy the places where we find them.

The difference between humans & other parasites is that we are sentient beings. We know what we are doing. We are presented with the evidence every day, both in our own lives & through the scientific evidence & news media. That is why this is collective suicide. 

So I accept the premise. The question is why we continue to do something which any intelligent person must see has the real probability that it will ultimately cause our own destruction?

I think that most of us are cocooned, (protected from pain or an unpleasant situation), in a mindset that we can't reverse this. That we individually cannot exert any control. That anything one person does will not even have the effect of a butterfly wing. We are selfish. We want to carry on doing all the things that we have become accustomed to doing. Someone else will sort this out in the fullness of time. Technology will be the solution.

We are deluded.

Each & every one of us has to make a personal effort to stop doing the things that make us parasites. We all have to stand up to the powerful, wealthy, vested interests that are now controlling our politics & international companies. 

If you don't believe me look at what is happening in America now that Trump has been elected. The people in charge of Trumps America include;-

• Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, who is under investigation ny the ethics committee & is very right wing.
• Robert F Kennedy as Health & Human Services Secretary, promoter of baseless conspiracy theories about vaccines and other public health staples, such as water fluoridation.

There is a whole list in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/14/trump-cabinet-administration-maga-extremism  America has power, money & influence. It doesn't look as if it will go in the right direction when Trump actually becomes president for the second time. Obviously the lesson of the first presidency has not been learnt. 

Or perhaps it has. Maybe the Parasites are winning & we are actually participating in our own collective suicide. If we are, hopefully the Host, (the World), will recover without us.