Humans Non-Being

"What is Man that Thou art Mindful of Him?" (Ps. 8:5)

I watched a TV show called "Life After People." Scientists and special effects folks got together and imaged the world after the human race has gone extinct. What an interesting if sad prospect.

They producers imagined decay over long periods of time. For a while you just saw vegetation growing everywhere; all the tall city buildings got covered and infiltrated with lush green growth. One after another skyscrapers crashed down. Suspension bridge cables lasted a bit longer, and parts of the Statue of Liberty might last on the ocean floor. But attempted human immortality of encoded DNA out in space (one was Stephen Colbert another was Stephen Hawkings (!), and another was some large-breasted woman; you can imagine whose bright idea it was)--well without constant readjustments, that space station will go down in flames and that last hope of reproducing humanity will get obliterated. Interestingly, the mummies in the pyramids will survive just fine, but the mummies in museums will rot without their humanly-controlled climate. In the end, after a hundred-million years, the lasting remnants of humanity will be bones and teeth (don't these contain DNA, I don't know). An interesting exercise, to subtract humanity from the planet.

But the narrators couldn't help imagining that some day "our replacements" would evolve--probably from apes. We still long to think that some time somehow there will be a species able to dig up our cities, to understand history, and to appreciate creation. The notion of the world churning on as an unreflective jungle makes us sad.

Do these feelings have something to do with why God made us to begin with? Is this what it means to be in God's image?