We must never forget that abject poverty is an inescapable reality for more than a billion people living on Earth today. The majority of us pray that civilization will learn to better manage and even overcome this ongoing social catastrophe. Meanwhile, most of humanity expects to better their own personal circumstances. Recession, Depression, Famine Humanity…
Can the human community imagine and create a more constructive sense of solidarity when no obvious common enemy presents an imminent existential threat to civilization’s survival?
Flight 93 On Sept. 11, 2001, courageous passengers and crew on Flight 93 decided to sacrifice their lives in defense of their nation. The plane they were traveling on was infected by malignant terrorism. They fought back. They developed a plan and attacked the cancer. We honor their courageous citizenship. We know the names of…
Parenting is the most important responsibility shared by all humanity. Every people’s future is likely to be managed by their children. Parents have more impact on what’s in store for civilization than any other social cohort. Parents hold the long suit for advancing humankind. A thousand generations of passionate parenting hasn’t led to perfect people….
Nightmare of Devastating Surprise Embedded in Nature Think of civilization as a living treasury of self-protective culture and technology developed to avoid devastating surprise. Civilization maintains early warning systems, sponsors safer building practices, encourages an educated citizenry, builds hospitals, signs treaties, and shares sacred covenants in part to protect against destructive surprise. The Most Devastating…
So now we know that early humans bred with Neanderthals and Denisovans. We know this because genome sequences from these “evolutionary cousins” make up from 4% to 6% of the genomes of some humans. And we’ve recently learned that some of the genetic material introduced by this cross-breeding included an upgrade of our immune system’s…
Dangerous Denials If a general in command of forces engaged in an epic struggle for your survival, discounts and ignores vital reconnaissance because the new information contradicts his traditional perspectives, you insist that general be replaced by a leader who is willing to consider new possibilities. Those who close their minds to the history of human…
The prospect of a jobless world is terrifying. Just thinking about it inspires fear that queasy feeling in the pit of our stomachs we wish would go away. Apparently a jobless world is beyond imagining for most of our 7 billion-member human constituency. Explore the Internet, searching for predictions and solutions. You’ll find little speculation…
In the dark days when the hard-won benefits of a thousand centuries of civilized advances are obliterated, our descendants will judge us. Struggling to survive amid the consequences of our reckless deficiencies, foraging through the rubble we’ve bequeathed to them, they’ll condemn our selfish arrogance. “What kind of misfits were they?” our descendants will wonder….
World adherents of all religions, mid-2010: Christians: 2 billion 281 million Muslims: 1 billion 554 million Hindus: 943 million Buddhists: 463 million Chinese folk-religionists: 454 million Ethno-religionists: 270 million New religionists: 64 million Sikhs :24 million Jews: 15 million Spiritists: 14 million Taoists: 9 million Baha’is: 8 million Confucianists: 7 million Jains: 6 million Shintoists…