Door one or door two?

Computerized everything, rocket ships, cars produced on a copy machine. Hundreds of ways to terrorize and kill us. We have astonishing numbers of people making a whirlwind of discovery and invention on all fronts. We have specialists in fields we didn’t know existed just a few years ago and are considering travel to distant planets. Will we choose door one, survive and prosper or door two, wipe each other out? Here are a few details we should keep in mind.

We are not currently capable of moving to a different planet if we ruin this one. The earth we live on has been here since before humans and has survived anything inhabitants have done. Like a minor irritation we are capable of disturbing it but not controlling it. If we overwhelm the space and food supply or we pollute beyond livable limits we will die off. If we make a radioactive nuclear wasteland nature will correct it without us.

In a short time all of our buildings, streets, farms, vehicles, boundaries can disappear. Compared to nature it is all fragile and no more permanent than a birds nest. We know these things because our friendly neighborhood archaeologists have found the remains of many previous civilizations and creatures who no doubt thought they were permanent. We have achieved progress, not God status. We will survive or not based on our actions.

We can not eliminate natural reproductive urges or different beliefs. Each new generation will include some who try by deception and brute force. Some groups will rise or fall from that effort but the results will be temporary. History is full of examples.

The ability to rule each other by force is dependent on the age, education and wealth of those governed. Young, impoverished, uneducated people have been intimidated into serving one master or another throughout history. The reason some leaders resist education is no amount of military strength will subdue mature educated people forever. Sooner or later control based on fear and ignorance will collapse. Information seeps in around any barrier erected to keep it out.

Every group in the world is undergoing change. It is constant. We can not stop people from leaving where they are or arriving at their destination. Governments have tried and it always fails. If people see greener grass on the other side they will climb the fence no matter what others think about it.

People who change location will find their new neighbors surprisingly similar to the old ones. Some will be honest, some liars, some gentle, some mean, some energetic, some lazy. The new group may look different, speak a different language, have different habits, but each individual in it has a recognizable attitude.

Learning to relax, accept and get along with others comfortably wherever we are is the most important skill no matter what the level of technical advancement. It is a developed skill, not something we are born with. We all start out the same. Clueless.

We will never all agree but whether we survive and prosper or wipe each other out depends on the majority overcoming our differences and working together. Pay attention. The mechanism is there for either outcome. Let us make it door number one.