Where Are We Going?

Inequity and injustice are, in my opinion, closely related. I extend my apology to the eight of you who flatter me my following this blog for belaboring the point, but I’m really beginning to believe that this old world of ours may be on the verge of collapse. Obviously I’m not speaking about planet Earth because it will survive our human invasion, but I’m instead talking about the human population which has devised geography as a way of separating rather than uniting itself. If the human experiment is to avoid extinction it will begin with a species-wide examination of just exactly what it means to be human. Scientific empiricism may be our last best hope to approach the topic objectively rather than subjectively. Let me offer an example of what I mean. How do we humans define “progress”? Dictionary.com first defines it as “a movement toward a goal or to a further or higher stage: the progress of a student toward a degree.” I have no argument with that definition, but I will challenge us to think about what constitutes a further or higher stage. The Twentieth-Century was all about “progress.” But was it really? Take the automobile, for example. Look at what it’s done to our environment and economy in the last century. The same can be said for airplanes, television, almost all of the technological “advancements” we all enjoy. We had better enjoy them to their fullest while we still have the chance, because it’s beginning to look like what we considered progress has actually been contributing to our eventual demise. I invite you to join me (and, God forbid, join in the conversation) in exploring what genuine progress for humankind might look like.