Dispirited
Earlier this week I read the following quote by Carl Sagan. It is inspiring, but dispiriting at the same time.
"We are at a crossroads in human history. Never before has there been a moment so simultaneously perilous and promising. We are the first species to have taken our evolution into our own hands. For the first time we possess the means for intentional or inadvertent self-destruction. We also have, I believe, the means for passing through this stage of technological adolescence into a long-lived, rich and fulfilling maturity for all the members of our species. But there is not much time to determine to which fork of the road we are committing our children and our future." Carl Sagan, Broca's Brain (1980)
1980 is the date the paperback version of Broca's Brain was first published. The ideas were previously presented in other publications dating from 1974 through to 1979.
This week was the week of the 2014 United Nations Conference on Climate. I haven't heard yet, but I fear this one will be as dispiriting as the previous one in 2009.
The week started with marches and demonstrations - world wide - begging for politicians (read that as the countries we all live in) to take positive action on climate change. Maybe, because I can't shake this depression I am feeling, I can't foresee anything positive happening no matter how many people are asking. Sagan warned us, back in the late 1970s, that "there is not much time to determine to which fork of the road we are committing our children and our future." I feel we missed the boat.
This week ended with news that scientists have discovered, in a cloud in the center of our galaxy, the
"beginnings of life bearing chemistry". Meaning that there is hope for other carbon based life in our galaxy. Maybe not now, but hopefully in the far future.life will develop on some other planet that has more conscience than ours, because it looks like intelligence is a dead end on this world.
"We are at a crossroads in human history. Never before has there been a moment so simultaneously perilous and promising. We are the first species to have taken our evolution into our own hands. For the first time we possess the means for intentional or inadvertent self-destruction. We also have, I believe, the means for passing through this stage of technological adolescence into a long-lived, rich and fulfilling maturity for all the members of our species. But there is not much time to determine to which fork of the road we are committing our children and our future." Carl Sagan, Broca's Brain (1980)
1980 is the date the paperback version of Broca's Brain was first published. The ideas were previously presented in other publications dating from 1974 through to 1979.
This week was the week of the 2014 United Nations Conference on Climate. I haven't heard yet, but I fear this one will be as dispiriting as the previous one in 2009.
The week started with marches and demonstrations - world wide - begging for politicians (read that as the countries we all live in) to take positive action on climate change. Maybe, because I can't shake this depression I am feeling, I can't foresee anything positive happening no matter how many people are asking. Sagan warned us, back in the late 1970s, that "there is not much time to determine to which fork of the road we are committing our children and our future." I feel we missed the boat.
This week ended with news that scientists have discovered, in a cloud in the center of our galaxy, the
"beginnings of life bearing chemistry". Meaning that there is hope for other carbon based life in our galaxy. Maybe not now, but hopefully in the far future.life will develop on some other planet that has more conscience than ours, because it looks like intelligence is a dead end on this world.
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