Reading history gives a poor impression of H. Sapiens, due to the endless cycle of wars, injustices, slavery, and corruption. Have we progressed that much since times past? Some would say yes, just because today we have more technology.
Right now the most powerful country in the world is bogged down in two expensive and pointless wars in which we stand to gain exactly zero dollars and zero cents. Meanwhile, the government uses its money assisting the rich so that they can fail once again in their ill-conceived business endeavors. The corporations receiving government money today will lose it tomorrow, but tomorrow there may not be a bailout. Debt cannot be increased forever. Sooner or later, debt must be paid. The stage is set for another Great Depression.
A simple discussion about health care has devolved into an acrimonious battle in Washington, D.C. People would prefer their neighbors die, rather then receive any medical assistance. People don't know their neighbors and don't want to know their neighbors. Is this a country, or is it a collection of selfish individuals who want to dominate others? People are willing to suffer any inconvenience, just so long as they perceive that other people suffer more than they do.
The U.S. is fast becoming a police state, with the largest prison population in the entire world. Over two million citizens are in prison, mostly for drug-related offenses. To incarcerate a person, any amount--millions--will be paid. But people are less enthusiastic about the idea of healing people from their illnesses and making them better. Also, less money is being spent on education than on incarceration. People are ruled by hatred, fear, and greed. These are the three primary emotions that rule many minds. To see others suffer is a consolation, but to see the happiness of others inspires envy. Not everyone is this way, but enough are to make FOX News the most popular news channel on television.
Global warming continues unchecked, which means that much of the nation's wealth, concentrated along her coastlines, will be ceded to the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. The fish will be impressed with the skyscrapers we have constructed. Nuclear war has only been delayed for a few generations. It too is coming, to deal with those who live further inland and in mountainous regions.
I think it is fair to say that, instead of having improved over the lot of the prehistoric Cave Man, modern man has made his world worse and imperiled his very existence. Modern man finds relief from his otherwise boring existence by indulging in hatred and warfare. Millions sit at home fantasizing over the blood and guts that have been spilled in faraway places. They read casualty reports and are satisfied when the other side has lost more lives than their side. They hate everybody that isn't a member of their particular tribe or their particular church and are distressed whenever other tribes get too uppity.
In the end, large-scale nuclear war is inevitable, in order to resolve the many hatreds that have been cultivated. People would prefer to die, just so long as their enemies die as well. At least they "won."
H. Sapiens has not had time to evolve sufficient resistance to the high levels of radioactivity that will be released by the plutonium-based munitions. The only question is whether a few souls may survive in the remote regions of the world, far away from the blast sites. If so, I hope that the few survivors were born without the trait for selfish hatred that has marked the human race. Perhaps they can begin to breed a new race, a better one, more apt with words and ideas than with the club.
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