Look at what we have done.
From our art and books, to our buildings, dams and bridges. We talk in microseconds across space and time to each other. The have generations of information at our fingertips. We travel in the air, under the water and across space. Our technology, our construction . . . our intelligence and sweat have accomplished amazing things.
We have evolved, worked, and strived to become the dominant species on our planet. And we are there. We don't control everything, but we control a lot.
Conquering the planet, and understanding of many of laws of the universe itself - hasn't even been enough for our energy and minds. We've spent lots of energy conquering each other too! Evolving incredible systems and technology to compete with other ever more efficiently.
We've grown from microorganisms into bipeds, and looked at from the viewpoint of our natural urge to GO and WIN, we've been very successful!
And now we enter a tricky phase. Our successes in population growth and technology, have give us a lot of power over an entire planet and all the other species on it. We are complicated creatures, and our population has always carried a mix of individuals and traits. We are complicated enough that even within individuals there is a mix of desires and traits. So we can be a bit unpredictable to we sure.
How are we going to ensure that we keep on being successful? Keep growing, expanding and evolving? Our power has given us a lot of responsibility. A fashion or whim among us can now impact an entire planet.
I don't have the answers for all 6 billion of us humans, and we should all beware of anybody who claims to have all the answers. However its pretty clear that we do need to be thinking from a long-term standpoint. As the dominant species here, our every twitch and mood can now effect the entire planet. It may be that we must now become extremely forward thinking and organized in what we do as a species. And doing that, like all endeavors, is likely to encourage both good and bad side effects.
I’m interested in seeing if our intelligence can evolve and adapt quickly enough to the power we’ve gained. It will be an exciting ride these next decades, no matter what we do or don’t do!