ABSTRACT
This autobiographical essay considers the influence of the ongoing collapse of the biosphere upon the academic career of an Anglo-American fungal biologist, or mycologist. The author's research was born from a fascination with the idiosyncratic features of the fungal kingdom, from the unique feeding mechanisms of their filamentous colonies to the ultrafast process of spore discharge in mushrooms. But this led to the question of the futility of studying and celebrating the brilliance of life when so much of it was disappearing in the wild. At the same time, a range of more specific bioethical questions presented itself, bridging “The Two Cultures” of C.P. Snow, from science to the humanities. Thus, the chapter argues that a deepening interest in the history of science must lead to a belief in the inevitability of human extinction and that the seeds of destruction lie in human nature, which means, in a strictly biological sense, that the fall of man was predestined, an idea first minted in the chapter author's book The Selfish Ape. From this seemingly bleak viewpoint, it is possible to awaken a deeper appreciation of nonhuman nature. Grace may lie in recognizing that we will not be missed.
