I think perhaps the problems with the sentence go back to its beginning... "sometimes we seem to be a massive waste of cells"... I do not much like the expression

Precisely where the author lost and annoyed me as well. It's an inauspicious start to in article which purports to be a book review.

It's trendy among certain groups to decry all humanity as a horrible plague upon the earth. It's a value system to which I don't (and won't) ascribe and it annoys me no end when ever it rears it's ugly mug in the various writings I read.

Mako