Limiting Our Stupidity, Using Our Genius

ONCE UPON A TIME, Mars had water flowing across its surface, but no more. Dry as a bone. Venus at one time may have been a true sister planet to earth, with reasonable temperatures, and an atmosphere rich in life giving oxygen. That is no longer true. Now its surface temperature is over 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Both planets used to be far more hospitable to life than they are now. Something went badly wrong. Some catastrophe radically altered the environments of both of Earth;'s nearest planetary neighbors, but we don't know what. Perhaps some sort of collision, or other turbulent event. it remains one of sciences's greatest mysteries, keeping planetary astronomers busily scratching their head, taking measurements, and speculating. These circumstances evokes a pensive longing within the adventuresome human heart, wondering what might have been, what once was, wondering about what life could possibly at one time had humble beginnings only to be snuffed out before it ever really got started. The prospect of terra-forming both these worlds into habitats suitable for human habitation would have been so much more within reach, had it not been for the tragic course of random events. Ninety percent of the human population breathes polluted air, which has adverse mental as well as physical effects on health. We don't know what went wrong on Venus and Mars, but we know exactly what's going wrong on Earth. The answer is right there in front of us, in the mirror. Einstein said that the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius is somewhat limited. In sufficiently limited, we must hope, to avoid the consequences of our own stupidity. We have fouled our own nest, we continue to do so, preferring material wealth to environmental health. Humans are inventive, creative, adaptable creatures, worthy, in many ways, of sustained existence. We were brought into existence by an awesome force which seems to desire our existence, seems to have given us every opportunity to ensure it. Will we continue to operate socio-economic systems which concentrate absurd amounts of frivolous wealth in the hands of less than one percent of the human population, over half the entire wealth of the world in the hands of the one percent few, or will we learn to balance production with cooperation, and learnt to produce and share material wealth with wisdom and reason, to provide a reasonable and healthy material life for everyone? As of now, the alarm is sounding. Venus and mars remind us as they cross our skies that planetary disaster can occur naturally; we know that it con occur through human stupidity. we might not be able to do much about the forces of nature, such as those unknown forces which long ago ravaged mars and Venus, making them unsuited to life of any kind. But we can certainly use our creativity and genius to overcome our stupidity, to save ourselves, and the beautiful life sustaining planet which we all too often, all too arrogant, refer to as "ours".