אָמְרוּ מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, רִבּוֹן הָעוֹלָם (תהלים ח, ה): מָה אֱנוֹשׁ כִּי תִזְכְּרֶנּוּ וּבֶן אָדָם כִּי תִפְקְדֶּנּוּ, הֲדָא עַקְתָא לְהוֹן מִבָּרְיָא. אֲמַר לְהוֹן אִם כֵּן (תהלים ח, ח): צֹנֶה וַאֲלָפִים כֻּלָּם וְגַם בַּהֲמֹת שָׂדָי, לָמָּה נִבְרְאוּ. (תהלים ח, ט): צִפּוֹר שָׁמַיִם וּדְגֵי הַיָּם, לָמָּה נִבְרְאוּ. מָשָׁל לְמֶלֶךְ שֶׁהָיָה לוֹ מִגְדָּל מָלֵא כָּל טוּב וְאֵין לוֹ אוֹרְחִים, מָה הַנָּאָה יֵשׁ לַמֶּלֶךְ שֶׁמִּלְּאוֹ. אָמְרוּ לְפָנָיו רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם (תהלים ח, י): ה' אֲדֹנֵנוּ מָה אַדִּיר שִׁמְךָ בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ, עֲבֵיד מַה דְּהָנֵי לָךְ.
The ministering angels said to God "What is Man that You should remember him (ie Why does man merit being created)?... God responded that the whole world was clearly designed solely for Man to benefit from...
And behold, I shall bring the Flood: Rashi interprets the term "behold" as referencing that which God is ready to acquiesce to the angel's argument that Man not be created. However, this seems mistaken, because God is not acquiescing to their argument- He still left over Noah and his family, as well as all animal species, to repopulate the world...
(3) For the inclination of man’s heart. Human makeup was now inferior to what it was before the flood and the intellect no longer held sway during the years of youth. This enabled the appetites to achieve domination... Nature will not cease to function dependably as it had prior to the deluge. The sun will orbit predictably, its orbit will be subject to calculation in advance, so will be its position relative to other phenomena in the sky. All the time periods mentioned in this verse will somehow be related to the position of the sun at different times during the year. It would be different from before the deluge. Whereas prior to the deluge the sun had remained at a fixed distance relative to the earth all year round, its orbit being circular, resulting in eternal spring in the populated parts of the earth, now there would be all these changes, though at predetermined intervals, resulting in alternating seasons of relative warmth and cold due to the elliptical nature of the sun’s orbit ... until such time as G’d would correct this deterioration in living conditions on earth due to the effect of the deluge...In that future foreseen by the prophet, the sun will once more orbit like a circle instead of like an ellipsis, a configuration responsible for the uneven temperatures on earth during different parts of the year. At that time, the whole vegetation on earth will undergo an upgrading, the curse earth experienced both after Adam’s sin and after Kayin’s murder of his brother Hevel being lifted. Conditions of length of human life will revert to what they had been before the deluge, as the prophet said that a youth, if he dies at a hundred years old will be considered as having died in his adolescence and more verses there describing this future...
(ב) לא אסף לקלל עוד וגו׳. המשך הדברים וגם טעם כי יצר וגו׳ הוא הענין שכתבנו לעיל ו׳ י״א דזנות משחית תבואת הארץ ומביא רעב וזה הי׳ לפני המבול והרעב הביא חמס והחמס הביא המבול. ואמר ה׳ כי לא אוסיף לקלל עוד וגו׳ ותיבת עוד נראה מיותר ופירשו חז״ל שלהי סנהדרין על כיב״ז לא תבנה עוד לכמו שהי׳ וע׳ מש״כ בס׳ דברים י״ז י״ז. וכן כאן הפי׳ דאע״ג דודאי המדה כך הוא לדורות לקלל את האדמה בעבור האדם. אבל לא אוסיף לקלל עוד כמו שהי׳ רעב של כלי׳ בכל העולם. כי משפטי ה׳ תכליתן להגיע למוסר וטובת האדם. אבל לא כן הדבר: (ג) כי יצר וגו׳. ויבואו מזה אך לידי גזל וחמס: (ד) ולא אוסיף עוד וגו׳. וזה לא יהי׳ בשום פנים הכאה של כלי׳ כמו שהיה וא״כ א״א לקלל בזה האופן שהי׳ כי אם במקום א׳ שיוכל להביא מזה מוסר למדינה אחרת אבל להיות קללת הארץ באופן שהיה אי אפשר וא״כ יש לראות עצה אחרת שלא יגיעו לזנות בכל הארץ כמו שהי׳. וזהו דבר ה׳ עוד. (א) עוד כל ימי הארץ וגו׳. דזנות בא מבטלה הבא משפע ברכה ורוב בריאת הגוף אבל מעתה יהי כל ימי הארץ זרע וקציר וגו׳ וכ״ז מביא לידי עבודה ולידי חולאים ע״י שינוי אוירים. ובזה יגיע אשר. (ב) יום ולילה לא ישבותו. וממילא לא יחטא כל האדם:
The source of the Mabul ultimately originated in the promiscuous behavior of the generation... Therefore, in order to insure that the people would not return to the same level of promiscuity, God designed the seasons in a way which would require more work on the part of man, as well as affect his health adversely. As a result, he would not have the time needed to engage in illicit pursuits.
(1) "Behold, I have given to you all of the herbs that gives seed:"... However meat was not permitted to him until the Children of Noach, as per the opinion of our Rabbis, and that is the simple meaning of the text. And [the original prohibition to kill animals to eat their meat] is because moving souls have a bit of stature to their souls: they resemble intelligent souls and seek their [own] benefit and their food and run away from pain and death; and the verse states (Ecclesiastes 3:23), "Who knows the spirit of man whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast whether it goes downward to the earth?" And when they sinned and all flesh corrupted its way upon the earth and it was decreed that they would die in the flood, and because of Noach, He saved some of them for the preservation of the species, He gave them permission to slaughter and eat [animals] since their existence was for [man's] sake. And in spite of all this, He did not give them permission with regards to the soul and forbade them a limb from a living animal. And He added commandments for us to forbid all blood since it is the support of the soul...
“but flesh; with its soul, its blood you must not eat.” The plain meaning is that G-d permitted only consumption of the flesh (meat) but not consumption of the life-force. In practice this means that tissue from an animal which is still alive is prohibited as food.