Quote:
Originally Posted by IamIan
As for some other 'ideal' theoretical state ... sure ... I see three main options:
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The problem, though, is in demonstrating that your options 2 & 3 actually are sustainable. Given the current state of knowledge of ecosystem engineering, this can't be done (AFAIK, anyway). So it seems extremely likely that any such system would suffer catastrophic failure within a few generations, thus demonstrating - the hard way - that it wasn't sustainable.
Indeed, I think we are experiencing the beginnings of such a catastrophic failure right now. Without major changes, I fully expect most vertebrate life to be extinct within a thousand years or so.