Our species is unique among all earthly creatures in its ability to comprehend and plan for the long term. Yet we are still motivated by ancient animal instincts, including the drive to expand and multiply to the limits of the possible. Other living things are limited in their ability to reproduce by the relatively fixed nature of their relationship to the environment. But by allowing us to escape the bonds of our biological destiny, technology has made it possible for us to continue multiplying, even as we have moved the world ever closer to an uncertain and potentially disastrous future.
