Interesting Fact about Humans and the Earth

          Almost everyone has heard of or watched the Matrix. It was a brilliant movie and was very thought provoking. The reason I am talking about this is because of one specific quote said by Agent Smith. 

     I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species, and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment; but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer on this planet, you are a plague, and we...are the cure.
          
           This quote is probably my favorite quote from the movie because of how truthful it is. It made me realize that the human race needs to change because if you look at the definition of a virus, we fit it perfectly. The definition, according to  http://www.medicinenet.com/, is, "A microorganism that is smaller than a bacterium that cannot grow or reproduce apart from a living cell. A virus invades living cells and uses their chemical machinery to keep itself alive and to replicate itself." Now you may all be thinking, we are not microorganisms, we are far too big. However, if you compare the size of a human to the size of the Earth, we could be considered a microorganism. Next, without a planet we cannot reproduce. Even if we use technology to live on something other than a planet, it would be probably be a ship that requires supplies from a planet, or be an artificial planet. Lastly, we use up all of the Earths resources and replicate at an alarming rate. 
           We are intelligent beings that have, up until a few decades ago, only cared about our own reproduction and gain, much like a virus. The only thing that separates us from a virus is the fact that we are attempting to fix the problems we have created. We have come up with cleaner energy sources, more efficient crops, and less polluting vehicles. We are beginning to replicate at a slower rate than we did in the past, but we are still growing and we are going to reach the Earth's carrying capacity very soon. We are planning on colonizing another planet due to the fact that the Earth won't be able to sustain us forever, but this brings up another problem. If we colonize another planet it will be the first time in human history we have moved to, and infected, another planet. A viruses spread is exponential, and once we do it one time we will probably do it again and again and again. 
           However, as I said, we are trying to fix the problems we have created. We can get rid of the poor reputation if we focus more on making the world a better place. We need to donate, be active in protecting the environment, and use our cars less. You can chose to not change, but like it out not, the Earth is dying because of us, and we need people to change in order to save it. We must evolve from a virus into a beneficial part of the Earth. We must become the Earths backbone, its bloodstream, or its nervous system.