Looking to the Future

What is our collective dream? Peace on Earth, goodwill toward all men? Is that your dream? Is that what you want all of us to work toward?

Not a bad goal. It is something mankind has claimed to have pursued throughout all of history. It is just too bad that we haven't achieved it after all of this time.

Of course, history is relative to the period of time referred to.  All of time? Well, just what is that? If the planet is 10 billion years old or older (14 billion, maybe?), what has been the role of mankind in all of that spectrum of time? Not much; mankind wasn't present for most of it.

Man's anthropological history on the planet dates back no more than 3.3 million years, and most would claim history to be only for the past 9000 years or so. Archeology, paleontology and other sciences inform us of life before then, but no written history is available to substantiate it. If you push it, we probably can find etchings and cuneiform from only about 4000 BC. That would make mankind's written history only 6000 years old.

We know the Ice Age ended about 11,700 years ago. What did mankind do from that age to the present? Living in or under massive ice formations must have been impossible. So how did mankind emerge from this age? How, why and when?

Imagine it, ice was thick – 1.9 to 2.5 miles thick! Think of the weight. Crushing weight and it moved upon the face of the earth slowly grinding the surface into lakes, rivers and hills. When it melted, oceans, lakes and rivers further shaped the contours of the planet. In all of this chaos mankind came into being. At least humankind that is recognizable to us. Of course our ancestors existed millions of years ago but lived and appeared much different than modern man.

During the Ice Age, though, mankind is believed to have sheltered in caves in South Africa in what is now termed 'a Garden of Eden'. Perhaps their number were limited to only a few hundred while all other ancestors perished from the extreme temperatures and lack of food. But in 'Eden' the clan survived by relying on each other and living day to day very, very carefully.

Mankind emerged to the end of the Ice Age and spread across the face of the globe. At the time tectonic plates were not where they are today. Land bridges existed to connect Asia with what is now North America. Peoples migrated among continents looking for warmer temperatures, and sea and land food supplies. Flora and fauna were fed upon to support life.

Later, thousands of years later, man's tribes gathered and roamed creating histories and cultures that would later be uncovered in anthropological digs. A far cry from present day man. We are the result of thousands of years of history and striving.

Which leads to the question: what is our striving? Are we as tenacious as our forbears? Do we have a sense of future different from them? Theirs was survival based; ours is less so on survival and more on thriving, yes? If that is so then what are we going to do with it?

Current activity is broad and deep. One wouldn't know this from news reports. The story of man is not a 15 minute news summary from any news organizations. Our story is more an essay from a university's research departments based on their discoveries of the last year. This is more appropriately a reflection on what mankind is doing and achieving than the nightly news.

And then one ponders the political campaigns so prominently evident in newscasts.  Who among the candidates will focus energy and resources on what is important?

Being rude, crude and pushy does not make a politician a valuable person in elected office. What we need are people who will discern what is going on, what is imminently important and what is not. And then those same people discern together what ought to be done. What are our opportunities to pursue? What are the threats we need to defend ourselves from? What weaknesses do we share that need to be addressed, reversed and turned into strengths? Indeed, what are our strengths to be protected and used to manage all of our affairs with intelligence?

Did we say intelligence? Yes, we did. It is the intelligence and shared tasks we focus on that are the most important features of modern day man. We have important things to do. We have lives to protect and to develop for the good of us all.

Not just Americans, but all of mankind all over the planet. This is our interplanetary abode. We must protect it and all peoples who inhabit it. We can only do that by working together. We must shun divisiveness. Apart we accomplish little but trouble. Together we make the future happen.

This is a good time to consider what that future will be. Opportunities are plentiful. Which will we use? In what order will we select and use which opportunities? And how will we use them? For the good of all or only a few? Hopefully the former!

Yes, so much to do. So much to decide. The future is like that. It demands much from us. But it promises much for us, too. It is for us to decide and implement.

Will we? And how well will we?

December 28, 2015