the hot zone

So I just finished reading "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston..a really good book about the dangers of a future biohazard, namely the family of Ebola viruses: Ebola Zaire (the most dangerous), Ebola Reston, Ebola Sudan, and Marburg. But this quote hit me hard:

"In a sense, the earth is mounting an immune respponse against the human species. It is beginning to react to the human parasite, the flooding infection of beople, the dead spots of concrete all over hte planet, the cancerous rot-outs in Europe, Japan, and the United states, thick with replicating primates, the colonies enlarging and spreading and threatening to shock the biosphere with mass extinctions. Perhaps the biosphere does not "like" the idea of five billion humans. Or it could also be said that the extreme amplification of the human race, which has occured only in the past hundred years or so, has suddenly produced a very large quantity of meat, which is sitting everywhere in the biosphere and may not be able to defend itself against a life form that might want to consume it. Nature has interesting ways of balancing itself. The earth's immune system, so to speak, has recogized the presence of the human species and is starting to kick in. The earth is attempting ot rid itself of an infection by the human parasite. Perhaps AIDS is the first step in a natural process of clearance" - The Hot zone, p. 310-1 ( :) references..i've been taught repetitively to the extent that its automatic)

I do believe that humans are becoming annoying lil parasites, and I do believe that there is something out there that is absolutely going to shock us into extinction. The question becomes...when? Honestly, we're NOT going to be prepared...AT ALL. Were we prepared for AIDS? No. It just travelled down the Kinshasa Highway in Africa until it finally touched the 'web'...the airline transportation web that interconnects us all. Ironic how some of our greatest strengths could become our greatest weaknesses...or is it inevitable anyway?