Gregory's Server
Perfect and prescient fellow citizen Natasha Jay :)
ST
"Critical Focus
Fortunately, there is a curious and wonderful fact about humanity.
Whenever we come together to focus on and solve some seemingly insurmountable problem, we are successful.
From initially learning to navigate vast oceans, to understanding and curing disease, to placing humans on the moon and exploring the solar system beyond, our species record of technical achievement is truly stunning.
In fact, history clearly records that our progress as a species is not impeded by our inability to solve critical problems; it is instead impeded by our inability to recognize and focus on them.
We have survived thus far not by elegant planning, but simply because of our once isolated population groups, the relatively low level of past technologies, and sheer dumb luck.
However, time has turned, and we cannot go back. Populations have become almost completely integrated, our technology has progressed to fantastic and globally lethal levels, and sooner or later our sheer dumb luck will run out.
Without direction, without a plan, without common goals and purpose, our species, and our world, will fail.
All our history, all our dreams, all our knowledge, our anguish, our joy, our victories, our defeats, all of our passion, everything that was human, gone forever. As if it had never existed in time at all.
Could anyone, no matter what their nationality or beliefs, want their children or grandchildren to live their last anguished moments of life in this failed world? A world now beset by an inescapable catastrophe that could easily have been avoided if their ancestors had exercised just a little foresight and vision?
I think not."
SearingTruth, A Future of the Brave, 2005