A lot like us
It is perhaps inevitable that our views reflect our individual circumstances. We cannot escape our genetic inheritance, our upbringing, our nationality, our cultural and political surroundings - even our species history.
One of our defining features, however, is our ability to see things from others' perspectives. We can see other people's points of view and imagine how they might be feeling.We can adopt 'neutral' positions and be objective.
Yet this is easier said than done. Thinking throughout history has been heavily influenced by the idea that humans are 'special'; we have tended to see the world only through our own eyes.
In Christianity, Islam and Judaism, for example, we were created in God's image and have 'dominion' or power over all other animals. In Darwin's day, evolution was seen as the inevitable march towards perfection - a Victorian gentleman. Hence the illustrations of evolution with humans at the top of an evolutionary ladder.
From ladder to tree
Evolutionary theory challenges that idea. Organisms alive today do not fall into a hierarchy in which some are more 'primitive' than others; they are adapted to different niches.
Some are widely distributed; others more narrowly. Some may be less well adapted and dying off; others may be thriving. Evolutionary relationships are more like a tree of life than a ladder, with humans a short terminal twig on the primate branch coming off a eukaryotic bough.
Humans have been highly successful at colonising the planet, but so have bacteria. Archaea and bacteria live in places we cannot. It's worth remembering that there are more bacterial cells in our bodies than human cells.
The theory of evolution positions us as one species among millions on Earth. Appreciating that point of view might help us make better decisions now that we have such power to influence the planet's future.