No not that kind of evolution, not the kind they don't want to teach in schools - evolution in the social sense. We forget sometimes that we're a social species, we're so busy beating up, oppressing or dropping bombs on each other. We can be quarrelsome, forgetful, brutal.
But we lasted as a species because we had an instinct to help each other out, to depend on each other, and we've done more of that than we have the other, the fighting and the slaying. But it's a tight race. A race between our better angels, and that dark passenger. The better angels have taken quite the drubbing for lo these many years. Their victory is not assured. The triumph of good over evil is as slender a bet as it ever was. The Status Quo may yet tragically prevail. I beg and encourage all those fighting such an outcome, on all the many related fronts, to please keep at it until we make fundamental change happen. And no bullshit this time.
We're running out of time.
There is so much going on that it is overwhelming to try and keep up. Our institutions are broken, our leaders corrupted, there are bad actors everywhere you look, greed runs rampant, the nation suffers under a culturally-imposed dumbness and a pathetic plastic meaninglessness based on mindless consumerism imposed by an out-of-control and ruthlessly unethical 1%. All in the context of a mighty war-based empire drowning in its own propaganda and coming apart at the seams while trying to save itself through ever-tightening social controls on the rabble and ever loosening restrictions on the greed monsters of the 1% who mean to sacrifice us all to the god of short term profits - posterity be damned.
The only thing the idiots who brought us here can manage to do is double-down.
Our leaders are criminals, our their policy goals are evil, our history is damning. These are simple truths - but may be hard to swallow. If it's difficult for you, take a deep breathe, break out the google and get back to me when you see how right I am (not to get all self-righteous and all – facts is facts).
I personally disavow all of it. I don't want to be associated with any of it. Mark me down as a dissident with a capital D. I disapprove of virtually everything our government does. I don't believe in bombing villagers to solve the world's problems, or starting wars to make profits, or giving breaks to rich assholes while screwing the poor. I believe in equality and justice for all and I want to see that reflected in my society. I want a new start. I want to see people at their best not their worst. I want a government that cares about its people and does right by them. Period. Is that too much to ask?
And if we are going to do right by the future, if we are going to honor our obligations to our progeny, we are going to have to get serious about the ecosphere.
97% of all peer-reviewed scientific papers state that anthropogenic climate change is reality. This makes it a strong candidate for the greatest existential threat to humankind...ever. Add to that all our other problems with nonrenewable resource utilization and management and unsustainable agriculture, etc – and that's the big problem staring us in the face. Don't be afraid of terrorism, be afraid of not doing enough to assure a reasonable future for humanity.
I propose an emergency bailout of Planet Earth as a massive, international public works project which would absorb the heft, wealth and brain-trust of the MICs of the world with an aim to replacing them entirely, because without complete focus and cooperation we'll not likely save the biosphere – not for a large thriving human population. And I submit, that is our solemn obligation – the solemn obligation of every human being on the planet.
We can no longer afford to put up with corruption or malfeasance...or distractions like war. Or greedy assholes who don't care about anything but themselves. The future won't forgive our sufferance of such fools.
Difficult changes lie ahead. We need new priorities, a new vision. This is mine: a humanity united to rescue our species.
There is no time left. Humanity has to grow up now. We must evolve.
Thank you all for your kind attention.
