This argument can be strengthened by focusing on instances where humans drove driven animals or hominids extinct. Technologies like gene drives also allow us to selectively drive species extinct that might have been challenging to exterminate with previous tools.
As far as I know, our track record of deliberately driving species extinct that are flourishing under human conditions is pretty bad. The main way in which we drive species extinct is by changing natural habitat to fit our uses. Species that are able to flourish under these new circumstances are not controllable.
In that sense, I guess the questions becomes what happens, when humans are not the primary drivers of ecosystem change?
This argument can be strengthened by focusing on instances where humans drove driven animals or hominids extinct. Technologies like gene drives also allow us to selectively drive species extinct that might have been challenging to exterminate with previous tools.
As far as I know, our track record of deliberately driving species extinct that are flourishing under human conditions is pretty bad. The main way in which we drive species extinct is by changing natural habitat to fit our uses. Species that are able to flourish under these new circumstances are not controllable.
In that sense, I guess the questions becomes what happens, when humans are not the primary drivers of ecosystem change?