As much was we like Stewart Brand (especially his book How Buildings Learn), his saying “We are as gods and might as well get good at it” is symptomatic of the climate and nature crises.
Depending on how you interpret that quote, humans tend to forget that we are part of nature or think we are better than nature.
Within our 300,000 year span of existence on earth, this superiority belief could be probably be pinpointed to the last 500 years. Roman Law. English Law. Rapid progression of Science and Technology.
School children are taught that North America prior to 1492 was mostly uninhabited except by small bands of hunter gatherers. However, recent findings show that North America had cultures and cities that were larger and more advanced than contemporary 1490's European cities. While these cultures had their faults, they worked with the land and the seasons and revered nature.
How can we trust a culture that systematically took the Bison population from 60,000,000 to 500 or that nearly extinct the 12 million year old beaver or to this day has desecrated its waters so much that more than half of the rivers, streams and lake are too polluted for swimming, fishing or drinking?
Want to see how much we know? Take a visual stroll down the maps of history: MAP and How to Lie with Maps. It is evident how little we know.
We need to stop acting like we know everything. We are not Gods. We are human. We are part of nature. There is more to history than the last 500 years; indigenous cultures hold the secrets and the lessons.
Maybe the Brand quote should be updated to: _If we think we are gods, might as well get good at it and learn from our mistakes. (_And it seems Brand is.)