humans are a species that can go extinct just as easily as any other and i love the tightrope walk pluribus is attempting with all the basic necessities like food and water and shelter being met worldwide (almost) unanimously, how energy waste and food waste and borders aren't necessary for human life despite how vastly the world a matter of days ago revolved around such things, and yet refusing to pick apples off a tree =/= good for the apple tree by definition, assuming they apply the same kind of logic to cutting off its limbs. many species have evolved alongside human tending for centuries for mutual benefit, and severing that connection =/= less harm, not just for all the humans that will eventually starve to death, but all the other living things that have shaped thriving lives alongside them. the extraterrestrial knowledge may understand the basic needs of basic life with sincere empathy, but do they understand the complexity of an entirely new planet as the life on it and it only has evolved to live for hundreds and thousands and millions of years?
even when it comes to carol, the hivemind behaves more like a nature documentary. zero intervention if it impedes the self determination of the free-willed life involved, even at the expense of a body or a mind. yet this kind of empathy feels almost cold when there is no long term being offered an equal extension of care, only the kindness of one single moment to the next. yet at the same time is the kindness of a hypothetical future even worth it if it comes at the expense of all that matters to you right now in this moment? even as carol was killing zosia, all they could do was crowd around and watch and ask for carol's consent before helping. if someone was drowning would you throw them a life preserver indeed.
