Re: "Can do" species
"plus cheaper and better antibiotic"
Let's pick out one of those. We've abused the cheaper antibiotics by careless use and bred populations of resistant bacteria. That in turn means that "better" are effectively no better than the last and we're in danger of the best becoming not good enough.
We haven't got smarter in the last few decades. In fact we've not been anywhere near smart enough.
Another of the things we've done: taken one of our most versatile raw materials, fossil fuels, and wasted in in static power plants when for decades we could have used nuclear in place of it, leaving fossil fuels to be used as chemical substrates, a role for which there are no adequate substitutes available in similar quantities. Again, because we lacked ambition.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
