The Ponsse Scorpion King Is The WIldest Looking Tree Destroyer Out There!

When it comes to clearing forests, what used to require a small army can now be carried out by one guy at the helm of this alien-like machine. With 8 gnarly tires on an agile-but-sturdy frame, the Ponsse Scorpion King is basically a clearing crew on wheels, with plenty of power on hand to not only cut down these tall pines, but strip them of their branches and cut them into manageable lengths, leaving a stack of logs where a tree had stood literally just moments earlier.

To see something like this is almost unnerving, if I’m being completely honest, because one individual having the power to wipe out several acres of forest a day seems irresponsible in my eyes. I’m not really a treehugger, I understand that progress happens and land has to be cleared to make room for it, but it shouldn’t be so effortless to destroy our planet’s natural air purifiers. Plus, think of the jobs this one mechanism has eliminated, if you look back even just 20 years, the job this one guy is doing would have taken at least a small crew, but now there’s one man going about his business. And truth be told, this machine looks like it’s just one step away from being autonomous. With some 3D scanning hardware and a little GPS help, the single operator could probably be eliminated as well, leaving the machine free to roam about the forest, happily munching the trees, being held back only by its fuel supply.

I hate to get on a soapbox or come across like “that guy”, I guess my age has just changed my perspective on technology. I’m all for efficiency and technology bringing about new ways to do a job, but this seems like the tech is advancing in a scary direction. However, I’ve always believed that the planet has a way of balancing itself, so I guess if we push things too far, Mother Earth will let us know in her own way.