Man, the conqueror of the world?

It seems really strange but sometimes this thought keeps occurring in my mind.
There are an estimated 10 million species of plants and animals living in this world. Over the course of time, evolution has ensured that all these living beings remain in harmony with each other making a complete ecosystem. This has resulted in a nearly perfect balance of the populations of species and resources present in nature.

Then suddenly, a whole new species emerges, by the name of Homo sapiens, with no unusual physical adaptations whatsoever; neither an athletic body, nor any special extensions thus making it a prime target for hungry predators. The one thing that it does have is an over-sized brain which seems useless at first. But slowly and slowly, it starts doing things never done by any life form before. It picks up stones and sticks and fashions weapons out of them. These it uses to hunt and build and gradually develops a complex society.

It starts living in small settlements which grow larger and larger into villages and finally into cities. After that it has tiny kingdoms sprouting up which have their own leaders and whose conquests lead to the formation of even larger kingdoms which soon turn into vast empires. It builds everything it needs for its comfort and enjoyment.

Hence it almost completely frees itself from the usual but slow process of progress i.e. natural selection. With the help of its new found intelligence, it starts gaining control on the world. Evolution forces creatures to change themselves to suit their surroundings, but this animal alters its surroundings to suit itself. I thus feel really astounded by the audacity of man, thinking that it is the sole inhabitant of earth and it alone deserves to consume and use all the resources present on the planet.

And yet I am truly amazed by the complex human mind, but unfortunately, I will have to post that some other day.