What a piece of work is a man! (3E)

“What a piece of work is a man!” We are clever enough to contrive how to transport men to the moon and bring them back alive and well; but not wise enough to see we are changing the world so rapidly that the survivability of all life is threatened. We introduce one marvelous gadget and potion after another; and when we discover unanticipated and undesirable side effects from our inventions we devise yet another new thing as the remedy.

Our highly-developed brains have been so effective at bringing us the comfort and security that was so scarce for the predecessors of our species that now we are overrunning the planet and stressing it beyond its capacity to support us.

“The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals”, marvelous in all its variety, grandeur, and subtlety! How sad that we try to put ourselves above the community of animals. We grant ourselves dominion over the animals and the resources of this planet, and then we trample it all saying, “Anything serving mankind trumps the needs and rights of animals.” — “Nobel in reason?” Not by my reckoning!

“Yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?” This quintessential planet is but a speck of dust in the vastness of the universe… and it is the only speck of dust we have to live on.

We want to believe we have the wits and the means to invent whatever may be necessary to fulfill our wildest dreams. But so many of those dreams ignore our responsibilities… to ourselves, to future generations, and to all the creatures of this planet. We must learn to discipline ourselves… or perish!

*** Text in italics is taken from Hamlet, by William Shakespeare.