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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

cake and eat


Can we have our cake and eat it?

Can we satisfy our need for speed while maintaining a balance with our environment? To determine that we must revisit the origin of our intelligence tens of thousands of years ago (or maybe 4 millions) when the first human ancestors stood upright and freed their hands for tools. And speech, don't forget how important that was for brain development. With speech we were finally able to shed the skin that kept us primitive. We saw the intangibles, the past, the future, innovation, and hence culture.

That was the dawn of our civilization. Once that ship has sailed, there is no stopping it, until, until everything is gone, the sky, the ground, the air, the home, the livable habitats that have given us the necessary protection from the elements and dangers.

The Earth, our planet, is not going away. At least not anytime soon. When our star in the center of our solar system dies, it'll swell and swallow our planet. And until then, even though literally thousands of scenarios can end our existence, none seems as likely as ourselves. We are the scenario now. We can end this in a flash.

This is the crossroad. I know perhaps every generation has thought about this very idea, but we're closer than ever. BECAUSE, there are a record number of us. BECAUSE of our insatiable need for advancement.

Ironic, isn't it? That was what brought us here. That exact collective personality trait enabled us to strive as a species. That's why this is the crossroad.

We can't measure how beings and existence outside of our knowledge and power can and may end us. We can, however, wise up and deal with our desire to have more and better every time the clock ticks.

In 100 years, we'll either prove ourselves to be the parasites who do NOT deserve to occupy this beautiful pale blue dot; or we'll come through as a species and have found a way to curb our enthusiasm. We can have our cake and eat it?

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