LEJ - Yup. Sad but true. Nonetheless, I do believe in spiritual evolution as well as physical evolution, so I continue to hope for the best from people (as do the Bahais, who are an excellent group of people).

If there was a general world catastrophe, though, I might keep a loaded gun handy...just in case...while I gathered wood and fresh water and planted vegetables. There are some people out there who are about as highly evolved as a turnip, and a whole lot more dangerous.

Yet...if you look at the general trend of human development in the last few thousand years...we have progressed from family groups to small tribes to larger tribes to city-states to nation-states to cooperative associations of nation-states (like the EU)...and we have discarded many of the most vicious social practices of the past (in most places).

So, doesn't it seem logical that the next step would be the formation of a unified world society with a collectively shared approach to solving social problems?

This is what we usually envision when we imagine advanced beings on some other planet. Is it not the inevitable end result of any successful civilization on any planet? Our present disunity simply shows that we have a very long way to go yet. We actually have no business exploring space (travelling to other places, I mean) until we've become one nation here on Earth.

I'm believe that we have an opportunity at this juncture in history (with our instant communications technology) to be successful in that fashion...rather than destroying ourselves through the worship of money and competition...or descending back into barbarism.

The very fact that I can talk like this with other individuals all over the world at a moment's notice is one of the most hopeful signs I've seen. Once you personally know people it's much harder for some government to persuade you to kill them.

- LH