A most unReasonable Nut

Why is it every seriously unhappy nut seeks to express his grasp of the human condition by trying to take out as many humans as possible on his way out?

Protagonist had an interesting post the other day concerning crank statements on a political weblog, in the vein of Dr. Eric R. Pianka - and a link to a story about a recent speech by Pianka, in which he proposed a deflation of the earth's population by a meager 90%. His method? Airborn Ebola. It's worth a read, but here's the salient closing from the author:

Meanwhile, I still can't get out of my mind the pleasant spring day in Texas when a few hundred scientists of the Texas Academy of Science gave a standing ovation for a speaker who they heard advocate for the slow and torturous death of over five billion human beings.

If you really care to read more about this fellow, his great idea, and those sensitive to believing that idea a good thing, this thoughtful piece goes into some of the backstory, concretizing for me some of the suppositions I had of this misanthrope, namely:

Professor Pianka describes himself as both a "hermit" and a "desert rat" who has spent years living in total isolation in various deserts while devoted to his studies of lizard ecology.

Now, what kind of man could forsake the company of his own kind for years? I certainly couldn't. Humans are, after all, communal animals. We are biologically programmed to seek out the company—the love and support and companionship—of our own species, and I feel that need very strongly. A happy hermit simply must not strongly feel this basic drive that lies at the very foundation of our sense of community and of our own humanity.

I can only conclude that years ago Eric Pianka must have lost touch with his essential humanity, that is, a strong emotional need for his own kind. Now, perhaps driven by that terrible depression that can occur in old men, he seems to have lost touch with reality.