ABSTRACT
This introduction gives context to the questions asked by the authors of the following diverse chapters. Can literature offer something other than a melancholic reaction to the recent mass species extinctions? Does science lead inevitably to the conclusion that the extinction of the human species was predestined by its genetic makeup? Have humans chosen certain types of humanity, and ways of life to be expendable in the name of human perfection? Is there anything to be learned from history about the effectiveness of trying to react to or stave off our or any other species’ extinction? Does the human group or the individual take precedence in the finance and economics of cure? Is eradication of a disease that threatens humanity a blessing or an extinction? Can we modify the ecosystem of a country in any way that might be beneficial? Must politics be involved in such a scientific approach, or can science be objective in reaching its goals? And since all these views are presented in language, what does this say about the language extinctions brought about by the rule of a global English? From this diversity the only thing that is clear is that nothing will be easy.
