Nice Niche Nietzsche

i beheld a corvid

with a stick

and i wondered:

would it be them

or would it be the rats or the roaches or the wasps

who’d be ruling the world

in a million years’ time?

or

i wondered instead:

why doesn't this clever bastard bird

already rule the world?

it’s something to do

i decided

with niches and brains

brains appear to be a useful evolutionary adaptation

and all those adaptable generalists like

rats and pigeons and squirrels and rats and cockroaches and crows

and humans

have a good one

but if you’re a crow

there’s no point in being any smarter

than you already are

because your current level of smartness

means you are perfectly adapted

to your existing niche

where you are very happy

and successful

same applies – up to a point -

to the rest of us

roaches and humans and pigeons and rats

once the humans have been eliminated

by climate change

however

there’ll be a new niche to exploit

and i’m willing to bet

that scientists a million years hence

with their astonishing plumage

stupefying flight skills

and literally unimaginable cognitive capacities

will be inspecting the geological residue

of our flamboyant few years

and enjoying

(very much)

our unusual silicon sculptures