Extinction as the Rule: Why Survival Is the Rare Exception
When we think of extinction, we often imagine dramatic losses — dinosaurs wiped out by an asteroid, the dodo hunted into oblivion, or mammoths wandering into the icy void of the last Ice Age. These examples seem unusual, tragic exceptions in the grand story of life. But the truth is the opposite: extinction is the rule of life on Earth.
According to paleontologists, more than 99% of all species that have ever lived are now extinct. From trilobites that once swarmed ancient seas to towering ferns that shaded primeval swamps, nearly every form of life that has ever existed has disappeared. The species alive today, including us, represent only the tiniest sliver of Earth’s biological history.
This realization reshapes how we see survival itself. To persist in the face of mass extinctions, s...
