Dr West (55), former chief executive of AgResearch and former executive chairman of the Tertiary Education Commission, was commenting in a address to more than 460 University of Otago graduands in several science-related disciplines, during a graduation ceremony at the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday.
Man-made climate change may well be "the greatest immediate threat to our species, other than a mass nuclear war" or the "irruption of an uncontrollable and aggressive disease".
Humans had been "ruthless in their consumption", the Earth was facing major climate change and the sixth known mass extinction of species was under way.
"We inhabit a jewel. We share it with literally millions of other species. We're on the way to sharing it with far fewer species in a considerably less pleasant manner, thanks to habitat destruction, sheer wanton vandalism and climate change probably induced by humans."
Life of any kind was not known to exist on any other planet.
Of the 2000 or so planets now known to exist, "ours appears to be the most remarkable in its diversity and complexity".
He believed the Earth was, in fact, "a form of living entity".
He referred to the Gaia principle, which suggests all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth are integrated to form "a single and self-regulating complex system", maintaining the conditions for life on the planet, according to one definition.
He told graduands that science created "boundless possibilities" and the world of science was "more exciting" than ever before. Their challenge as scientists was to help the human species "evolve in a measured way".
"You will create the means to reduce our species' insatiable demands." The information revolution and the eventual further development of artificial intelligence could result in the emergence of a new hybrid life form in which sexual reproduction was no longer required, he said.
