“Many of the dangers we face indeed arise from science and technology---but, more fundamentally, because we have become powerful without becoming commensurately wise.” -Carl Sagan.

The quote above as a springboard to some agreement and some initial thoughts / additions:

Wisdom has not kept pace with

• Science.
• Technology.
• Power.
• Intelligence.
• Circumstance.

Wisdom is

• Mistakes.
• Careful consideration.
• Unending questions.
• Thoughtfulness.
• Reason.
• Connection, Interdependence, Compassion, Empathy.
• Acknowledgement of and consideration for the entanglement of time and place, leading to understanding the significant insignificance of personal circumstance and individual thought.

Advances in science, technology and power are obvious.

Advances in basic human intelligence, (i.e. education, knowledge and capacity for learning), may not be so obvious, especially to those who live in the moment, (i.e. one lifetime).

Circumstance includes

• Population.
• Increasing complexity / bureaucracy.
• Divisiveness.

Further thought:

Acknowledgement of and consideration for the entanglement of time and place, leading to understanding the significant insignificance of personal circumstance and individual thought will further wisdom by forcing individuals and bodies of individuals (including all of humanity today as a small part of all of past, present and future humanity) to recognize the past and future as both time and place, thus arguing that the present is also both time and place. Last week I said, “Subtract the personal circumstance and the dynamic of time and place becomes weighty, palpable, significant, real; and the border becomes thicker, impenetrable. Subtract the individual thought and the dynamic of time and place becomes wispy, swirling, obscure, fragile; and the border becomes nonexistent; and time becomes place; and place becomes time.” The present is merely a continuation and my presence (our presence) here, now cannot erase the past or discount the future, yet because I separate each moment of my time and further separate my place as any number of self-made or assigned identities, and because I consider the past as one large time and place and the future as one large time and place, my present feels weightier, more consequential and far more important; therefore I value my present far more than I do a connected past or a possible future. The reality is all time and place are entangled.

That said, today we are in a dangerous time. To simply say so and/or sound a warning bell will not be enough. To survive into a number of future generations that will come to the average lifespan of an earthbound species, requires accelerated majority wisdom, today. To spend valuable resources on anything inconsequential to the long-term survival of Humanity is ignorant, prideful, lazy, inhumane. Yet for many, long-term survival is a lifetime. And for some, long-term survival is an afterlife. And for many, consequence is some combination of personal power and comfort. And until we can agree on a definition of long-term survival and expand our consideration of consequence to encompass at least the average lifespan of an earthbound species, our wisdom will lag behind.

In the history of Humanity, if there ever was a time to be accused of overthinking, to be told you are putting way too much thought into something, that time is now. (I believe) today there is no such thing as too much thought. Today, more so than any time in our history, we have both 1) the capability to destroy our species (and possibly our planet), and 2) the potential to ensure our best chance for long-term survival. It is a unique and a dangerous time; and we should be humbled, both individually and as a species, to live here, now.

Lacking majority individual wisdom, we should seek worldwide leadership in those who at first are willing to work together to act on long-term survival as one million or more years; as a species we are barely into our adolescence. After willingness, the next immediate step is to recognize and act on the short-term (in our lifetime) goal of weakening divisive influence, advancing equitable opportunity and simplifying through transparency. And we must do this as one species. We must come together today. There is no other way.

This week in our country Congress ratified the election of a new president. The process was not without a few bumps. In the best of times, politics is about power. In this last four years this power dynamic has become more obvious; but even in the best of times, politics is ignorant, prideful, lazy, inhumane. Based on recent years, I believe it will be a generation or two before we are able to reach and maintain a consistent majority individual wisdom. So today, to weaken divisive influence, to advance equitable opportunity, to simplify through transparency, we must stop choosing politicians as our leaders. We must seek and choose wisdom and long-term vision; (I have already defined long-term). And it would be most beneficial if we were able to choose these characteristics and deeply discount or even ignore an individual's self-made and assigned identities and/or their eloquence and persuasiveness. One lifetime is so significantly insignificant that to focus on anything other than developed character built from a striving for wisdom is inconsequential.

“The human race’s prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenceless against tigers than they are today, when we have become defenceless against ourselves.” -Arnold Toynbee

“There are no catastrophes that loom before us which cannot be avoided; there is nothing that threatens us with imminent destruction in such a fashion that we are helpless to do something about it. If we behave rationally and humanely; if we concentrate coolly on the problems that face all of humanity, rather than emotionally on such nineteenth century matters as national security and local pride; if we recognize that it is not one’s neighbors who are the enemy, but misery, ignorance, and the cold indifference of natural laws---then we can solve all the problems that face us. We can deliberately choose to have no catastrophes at all.” -Isaac Asimov

*All quotes in this post were found in “The Precipice” written by Toby Ord.