Failure of Will? Loss of Thriving Future?

Many, many humans thought that if the human species faced threat of a global disaster, it would unite to stop the threat. To stop the global disaster. Wrong! So very wrong!

For much of human history, it was thought that a global disaster would unite humans in a common cause. Together prevent the disaster. Or worst case, together minimize the damage.

Threat might be from an approaching asteroid. Might be from a deadly virus striking globally and killing millions. While the first one has not happened and may not happen, the last one has. What happened? What does it tell us about the human species and its future?

What happened? Though not even the most deadly and devastating virus that humans might still face, it was very, very bad. Globally, over 550 million were infected by COVID-19. Over 6 million died.

When the moment came to stop the virus early enough to limit deaths to less than 1,000, we failed. When the moment came to mitigate virus’ devastation, we were more divided than united. We failed. Failing even to take easiest of measures (vaccination, masking, physical distancing) to mitigate devastation. To stop the virus from infecting. A preventable global disaster. An unmitigated global disaster.

COVID-19 was the test. We failed the test. Failed miserably.

What does it tell us about the human species? We have the ability to avoid a very, very bad future. But we are likely to have failure of will.

Did we learn anything? Anything likely to give us necessary will to avoid the very, very bad future which is coming? Coming far too quickly. Coming with far too devastating impact on humans, on other creatures and on Earth.

As a species, there is pretty much nothing we learned. Nothing that will sufficiently change our behavior. Nothing that gives us comfort that we will avoid the coming very, very bad future.

Does this have to happen? No!

We can do better. Much better. We have ability to avoid the coming very, very bad future. Have ability to build and achieve a thriving future for all. A much, much better future.

The human species developed great knowledge on how to build a better future. Developed tools and skills necessary to build a better future. Developed resources necessary to build a better future. The human species, as a species, is very smart. Unfortunately, it is often not very wise.

Is there much hope that humans will find the will to avoid a very, very bad future? Find the will to build and achieve a thriving future for all? If we are truly honest with ourselves, the answer is likely no.

Very sad. Very, very sad. How do we explain this or justify this to future generations whose future is a very, very bad future? We can’t. We can only say that we are very, very sorry for the mess we made. For the mess we failed to prevent or clean up when we had the chance.

Future generations should be very, very angry. They should accuse this and past generations of dereliction of duty. They should scream. Should wail. Should mourn the loss of a thriving future.

But there is still a chance. A chance to avoid the coming very, very bad future. To build and achieve a thriving future for all. But it is a rapidly diminishing chance.

A chance if and only if we join together now. Join together as we have never done before. Behave better than we have ever done before.

What will be the legacy of the human species? Will it be failure of will? Will it be loss of thriving future? Or will we, the human species, change enough to achieve a thriving future for all?