Solving unsustainable trends.

 Do current trends in immigration, extreme weather events, cyber and biosecurity, energy, and food security, declining trust in government, truth decay, populism, loss of freedoms, national debt, mass shootings, drug overdoses, obesity, wealth concentration, economic uncertainty, species extinction, hate speech, the evolution of weapons, civic education and elections, political polarization, and hypocrisy domestically and globally – concern you?  They should!   None are sustainable.

 

It should be self-evident that we must understand the two primary sources of these worsening trends.  Some of our core principles and our Constitution are flawed.  Skeptical? Read our Constitution’s preamble.  Then give each of its seven objectives a school grade.   It is vital we take the most cost-effective means of halting, reversing, and even preventing these trends.  Urgency is desirable and achieving wise outcomes could be fast.  But not easy given our mind’s resistance to change and our government’s systemic dysfunction.   Global progress in halting preventable mass human deaths, disabilities, and suffering is achievable with humanity's existing resources and technologies.  But ONLY with sufficient political will and a genuine patriotic commitment.

 

Recall that the first paragraph of our “Declaration of Independence” set the stage for our nation’s founding principles that we have never applied.  It holds these profound yet usually forgotten words, “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God”.   Nature with its bountiful systems once freely provided our basic life support infrastructure.  Now, civilization depends on how we treat it and one another.   Together these primary factors ultimately determine to what level we can sustainably maximize our most cherished freedoms, health, and needed security.

 

Thomas Paine in his pamphlet Common Sense stated "Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz., freedom and security.  And however our eyes may be dazzled with snow, or our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is right.”   Thomas Paine, Common Sense.  Published Feb. 14, 1776.

 

He asserted “It is the duty of everyman, so far as his ability allows, to detect and expose delusion and error.” And, "We have it in our power to begin the world over again." 

 

Nearly 100 years later Abraham Lincoln wrote that our Declaration of Independence is our “Apple of Gold” and our Constitution its “Frame of Silver”. We revere the frame.

 

We must gain a firm grasp of reality and a commitment to fundamental principles. We must engineer those “truths” that we all hold to be “self-evident” into a more perfect global union for healthy and sustainable generations to come.

 

REALITY 1:  The three most complicated systems in the known universe that have enabled humans to survive and thrive.

1)      Nature.

2)      Immune systems

3)      Our mind's problem-solving ability.

 

Why is this important?  Nature’s microbes have always been our greatest threat.  Pathogens change rapidly.  Immune systems in higher organisms must keep up with microbial changes to survive and thrive.  When mental concepts fail to grasp this and act improperly in response to this irreversible reality, we risk actions that reduce the health and fitness of our immune systems, thus increasing risks to our own species' vitality and survival.

 

REALITY 2: Everything is connected, interdependent, and vulnerable.  Literally!  “Everything is connected, everything is interdependent, so everything is vulnerable.... And that’s why this has to be a more than whole of government, a more than whole of nation [effort]. It really has to be a global effort....” Jen Easterly. Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency director.  Oct. 29, 2021. [CISA is our nation’s newest federal agency established by the Trump Administration in 2018]

 

REALITY 3: Our body’s experiences and perceptions start with three biological suppliers. 

1.       Five senses.  Animals, plants, and scientific instruments offer vastly superior sensing and experiencing of reality.

2.       Emotions and feelings (internal experiences) - usually depend on what we see, think, or experience within our culture or the values we have adopted.

3.       Mental concepts.  Our minds have many profoundly powerful capabilities. 

a.       Problem-solving.

b.       Creativity

c.       Believing ANYTHING.

d.       Defending flawed ideas to our death (or damaged relationships).

e.       Mass murdering others who look different or create other concepts.

f.        Avoiding what we know needs to be done.

g.       Doing the opposite of what’s needed.

h.       Ignoring wisdom

i.         Codifying women as lesser citizens

 

Why is this important to understand?  "We need more understanding of human nature, because the only real danger that exists is man himself. He is the great danger. And we are pitifully unaware of it. We know nothing of man ... far too little. His psyche should be studied -- because we are the origin of all coming evil." - C.G. Jung

 

REALITY 4:  Paces of change in three global factors.  

1.       Technology’s exponential growth in power, affordability, speed and spread of distribution, anonymity, and multi-use nature.

2.       Our mind’s linear capacity for learning new things and understanding connections.

3.       US government system and global governing system are virtually flat-lined.

 

REALITY 5:  There are three underlying human demands/expectations.  Freedom, Security, and Independence.  All we really have is freedom.  Individuals are free to do, or not do, anything they want.  But humanity is never free of the consequences.   [See REALITY 2]

 

REALITY 6:  Humans have two fundamental means of resolving disputes.  Fight or talk (the law of force or the Rule of Law.

 

ASSERTION 1:  For the Rule of Law to function peacefully each of these 3 elements are needed.

1.       Laws must be made and enforced by a democratic process.

2.       Laws must be applied equally to everyone.

3.       The only purpose of Law is to protect human rights and the environment.

 

"A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse." Thomas Jefferson.

 

We must choose wisely.  Living by the Law of force will end badly.  And excluding any one of the 3 ‘rule of law’ elements will lead to a dysfunctional governing system.

 

"When shall it be said in any country of the world, my poor are happy, neither ignorance or distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes not oppressive; the rational world is my friend because I am friend of its happiness. When these things can be said, then may that country boast of its constitution and government." Thomas Paine.

 

ASSERTION 2:  There are only two types of laws.  

1.       The “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” and

2.       Human laws.

These must work in harmony because human laws tend to be unjust creating unfavorable global consequences.  

 

ASSERTION 3:  There are three types of Truth.

1.       Personal (What God do you worship, or not?)

2.       Political (What political system do you swear to defend, or not)

3.       Practical (What truths do you hold to be self-evident).  When two scientists debate an issue there are only three possible outcomes.  A. One is right, the other wrong.  B. Vice versa.  C. Both are wrong – now find it if possible.

 

ASSERTION 4:  “the earth belongs to the living, and not to the dead”.  Thomas Jefferson.

“The earth belongs always to the living generation… Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19. years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force and not of right.”   Thomas Jefferson  In a 1789 letter to James Madison

 

Dr. Benjamin Rush (a signer of the Declaration) suggested Jefferson edit its best-known phrase “Life, Liberty and the pursuit...” suggesting “Happiness” be changed to “Health”.  Imagine how different we and the world might be today if Jefferson had listened. And our constitution prioritized it.

 

WTimes LTE. on Polio Day.

 Dear Editor,

Today’s (World Polio Day) Washington Times editorial “Halting the coronavirus merry-go-round” with the byline “Once in motion, the cycle of illness and cures proves hard to break” missed key factors regarding biosecurity issues related to both nature and biosecurity labs. 

First. People, animals, and pathogens have always been in motion - and always will.  Thus, the “cycle of illness and cures” are “hard to break” because pathogens are constantly evolving with no start or stop.  Worse yet, our addiction to flawed concepts and our democratic republic government system failing to change is a perfect storm for accelerating biosecurity threats from multiple sources.  There are at least five ways pathogens will persistently change.

Our freedoms and security depend on understanding and codifying laws consistent with the three most complicated systems in our known universe.  The environment, the immune system, and the human mind.  Over 3 billion years every immune system needed to keep up with the evolution of microbial threats constantly produced by nature.  Our minds have engineered human systems that are now ignored (or forgotten) this constantly changing aspect of life.   Mental problem-solving skills and concepts got us this far.  But now, due to arrogance and ignorance, we persistently defend an increasingly dysfunctional government system that will only empower microbial threats to thrive. We won’t.  

October news reports included: ‘expert warnings of a “swarm” of Covid “subvariants” soon overrunning our defenses’, US hospitals experiencing a sharp rise in childhood ARI cases, horrifying flesh-eating bacteria in Florida, the first US death from Monkey Pox, Cholera in Haiti, Polio is back in the US for the first time in decades, and the Biden White House just releasing our nation’s new National Biodefense Strategy.  A ‘national’ strategy with global weaknesses, and recommendations that both political parties will resist.

Humanity needs ‘gain of function research’ in biosecurity labs in order to keep ahead of nature’s pathogen evolution.  But now we must also prepare for nefarious biothreats now possible from virtually anyone with a grudge.   This is no idol warning given the exponential growth of biotechnology we’ve seen just over the last decade.

Our greatest threat is not nukes, pathogens, or climate change. It is our failure to change our minds in reaction to a world that is changing exponentially and a government system that is flatlined. 

Polio eradication inspire global biodefense systems?

End Polio Day (Oct 24, 2022)

Recent front page news reports include health experts' fear a “swarm” of Covid “subvariants” will soon be overrunning our defenses, a sharp rise in ARI in childhood hospital cases, flesh-eating bacteria in Florida, Cholera in Haiti, Polio is back in the US for the first time in decades, and the White House released our nation’s new National Biodefense Strategy.  Given the reality that biotech advances over the past two decades have made bioweapons an increasing possibility for anyone with a lab and a grudge, and the return of nuclear fears, do we really need Halloween this year?   

Humans are the most intelligent species on earth. Maybe not the wisest.  We have split the atom, frequently leave earth’s atmosphere to explore space for days on end, and even nudged an irrelevant asteroid a million miles from the earth as an experiment to confirm we can build a planetary defense system when (not if) needed against another celestial mass. Unfortunately, we’ve not yet managed to protect our species' essential life support infrastructure on our own planet’s bountiful natural systems.  Systems that are essential for everything we hold near and dear and depend on here for all life’s survival.  We could.  Some are trying.  But collectively we persist in resisting the practical solutions and the tools we’ve had for generations.  Even with more new tools and solutions created each day, the relatively easy plan of eradicating polio is still with us.  From space, we appear to be a species standing in a pit of vipers while swatting at bees.  

Do we need a spiritual revolution to invest in the global capacity to protect against humanity's oldest and greatest earthly threats?  Microbes (natural and now human engineered) are evolving rapidly.  We are not.  But we did have one glorious victory. The global eradication of Smallpox is arguably humanity's greatest achievement.  Humanity globally eradicated it in only ten years during the 1970s Cold War with a heroic global campaign that protected every human against the greatest scourge ever known.  A virus we couldn’t see unless we had an electron microscope.  Smallpox had killed more humans in the last century than all of our wars, revolutions, genocides, homicides, and natural disasters...combined.  Yet, the Polio virus, for which we still have no cure, remains.  And it has been maiming and killing (mostly children) for millennia.  For two decades we have had it on the edge of global annihilation.   

A 1916 outbreak in NY City killed over 2000 people.  In 1952, the US recorded our worst outbreak killing over 3000.  Fortunately, global science research led to the creation of the first successful vaccine by Jonas Salk, a US physician.  He tested it on himself and then his family in 1953.  One year later 1.6 million children in Canada, Finland, and the USA were protected. 

 

Astonishingly, in 1979 an inspired Rotary Club member in the Philippines dreamed of eradicating polio globally.  That effort succeeded in vaccinating 6 million Philippine children, and within five years Rotary International birthed it as an official worldwide Polio eradication campaign.  In 1988 the World Health Organization joined in.  The Gates Foundation recently announced $1.2 billion in addition to billions it had given since it joined the ‘Polio Plus’ campaign 14 years ago. 

In 1990 the Polio eradication target date was set for the year 2000.  Unfortunately, international conflicts stymied that easily affordable, doable, and globally agreed-upon plan.  2003 became the new deadline.  Enormous progress was made, yet again for the same reason, it needed to be reset to 2015.  Then this August the U.S. had its first confirmed polio case since 1979 with recent wastewater samples in Jerusalem, Israel, and London, UK, indicating community transmission in regions where new cases of polio have not been seen for decades.  

Scientists always knew that polio was only a plane ride away. And polio anywhere is a threat to everyone everywhere due to infection cases literally going viral.  This concept is not rocket science.  The borderless nature of viruses is indisputable and will never change.  But now eradication efforts must also contend with vaccine misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories that go viral.   Combined with complacency and a perception that polio is no longer a threat makes this victory even harder.  But it is still doable.  And permanently eliminating this virus means that anyone of any age, political party, wealth standing, or religious belief will never be crippled or killed by this virus again. Will we be able to start planning victory parties before 2025?  

Our species had the means of protecting against Smallpox for hundreds of years. Maybe thousands.  Indigenous African tribes used it.  George Washington used it.  The British didn’t.  Our nation stands today because of George Washington’s military genius and his bold decision in trusting that unknown tradition.   Today’s biothreats are inevitable and accelerating for multiple reasons at the same time and pace of Truth and trust decay.

Working with science and within “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” (see the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence) has the potential for preventing multiple sources of global chaos sparked by any one of dozens of unsustainable trends we’ve known about for decades (world hunger, species extinctions, war, terrorism, genocide, the evolution of weapons, pollution, global warming, new and re-emerging infectious diseases...).

 

The three most complicated systems in the known universe are the environment, the immune system, and the human mind.  For over 3 billion years immune systems within every higher life form needed to keep up with the evolution of microbial threats that nature was constantly churning out.  Viral variants will persist indefinitely.  And unless our human mind’s problem-solving skills and concepts, which got us this far, fail to grasp the profundity of this trifecta, polio and other microbial threats will thrive.  We won’t.

All life forms are exposed daily to hundreds if not thousands of new microbial mutations due to six or more mutagenic forces.  Almost always immune systems quickly adapt because most microbes are not a threat.  Some novel pathogens like Covid19 are.  Vaccines enable us to boost (essentially hack) our own immune systems.  This ‘hack’ has saved billions of lives in just decades.  But this vital human security asset is now in question with our stagnant political systems and flawed mental concepts have become our greatest threat.   Things evolve.  We stopped.

Our minds evolved for over 100,000 years solving survival problems enabling our species to thrive in an ever-changing environment.  Using the scientific method doctors gave up bloodletting and leeches. Now we need to abandon other delusional beliefs.  Primarily the concept of independence. Yes! It is only a mental concept.  It exists nowhere in our known universe except in our minds and in dictionaries.  What is more important?  Protecting national sovereignty or protecting human freedoms, security, health, and the environment?   Pathogens (natural or human-engineered) change relatively instantly.  These, and pollution, cyber threats, and poverty do not respect borders.  And our minds and political systems are failing us.

Future generations of every creed, color, culture, and country can survive sustainably.  But we must first realistically prioritize our needs, and theirs.  It is possible for humanity to engineer a global governance system that maximizes our cherished freedoms, fundamental security, and every aspect of health.  Expecting better results on any of these using our existing government systems fits the definition of insanity as truth/trust decay accelerate.

Profoundly, Jen Easterly, director of CISA our nation’s newest federal agency (the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency) stated last October that “Everything is connected, everything is interdependent, so everything is vulnerable.... And that’s why this has to be a more than whole of government, a more than whole of nation [effort]. It really has to be a global effort....”.   I’m sure Ms. Easterly understands that cybersecurity and biosecurity are uniquely similar.  And lacking a comprehensive global approach to any threat endangers all generations.

 

Globally eradicating Polio is a step in the right direction of engineering a reliable global health governance system capable of preventing and protecting us against nearly every biosecurity threat.   We can no longer allow Polio to dominate our children’s unprotected nervous systems while choosing delusional priorities.

God forbid another Polio variant emerges.  Or an antigovernment extremist group creating a genetically modified global genocidal killer.   “Things Change, can we”.  This is our most fundamental planetary health challenge.

If you doubt this, read the preamble to the US Constitution, and give a school grade to each of its seven intentions.  Abraham Lincoln wrote that our “Declaration of Independence is our Apple of Gold.” And our “Constitution” it’s a “Frame of Silver”. 

Jefferson's close friend, Dr. Benjamin Rush suggested he edit the best-known phrase in the Declaration of Independence to read "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Health" instead of happiness.  Imagine how different our nation might be today. 

Jefferson also wrote that every law and Constitution should be rewritten every 19 years.  Because the future belongs to the living...not the dead.  

Anyone truly committed to achieving the seven intentions listed in the US Constitution's Preamble should focus at least as much of their time promoting the 17 global Sustainable Development Goals as talking about the elections.   Simply because the Director of CISA told us a fundamental truth. 

 

 

 

 

GOOD News! All from recent WPost articles.

1.       Humanity has successfully demonstrated our capacity for planetary defense against celestial threats. Google DART experiment.

2.       2.   Social media is used for human rights protection.

a.       The death of one young woman in Iran sparked nationwide protests in all 31 of Iran’s Provinces. She died from a skull fracture due to police brutality after being arrested and sent to a “Re-education center”.

b.       Driven by deep grievances:  repressive religious rules, 50% inflation rate, and economic mismanagement by the regime, thousands of Iranian feel they have nothing to lose.  So far at least 76 protesters have been violently killed.

c.       Satellite technology undermined Iran’s internet blackout of civil voices allowing a song to go viral and became the Iran protest anthem.

3.       3. The evolution of weaponry on battlefields has empowered Ukrainians with little military training to use personal drones to help Ukraine’s military use smart ammunition to devastate Russian forces 20 miles away still within Ukrainian territory.

4.     4.   US foreign/military policy is now ethically prioritizing its defense of freedom and security beyond its borders “Freedom has to be better armed than tyranny.” Ukraine’s President.

5.       5. A single individual using an IED (Improvised explosive devise - a truck bomb) can thwart an abusive and criminal superpower.  Nations no longer have a monopoly on WMD.  

6.       6.  George Will exposed Russia’s cultural history of the torturous treatment of enemies (domestic and foreign) asking ‘is this only a problem for the US when it is done outside of Russia?’.  Thus exposing the unstated universal insanity of the UN (our global governance system) which was engineered to put the protection of national sovereignty above the protection of human rights and the environment.  We now have a perfect example of this dysfunctional system. 

With our world about 100 years past the need to create a global governance system based on the “Rule of Law” instead of the law of force. 

Systemic solutions required

 It’s increasingly harder for people to believe that things are going to improve before getting catastrophically worse.  Optimism has blinded most of us to the accelerating global chaos of costly and unsustainable economic, environmental, health, social, and political systems over the last 50 years.  Increasingly human insecurity factors continue spilling harm across national borders as if those borders don’t exist.   News flash!  They only exist on maps and in political documents and in human beliefs.  Actual borders do not exist in nature and advances in technology are increasingly undermining the security of the political borders we draw.

“Everything is connected, everything is interdependent, so everything is vulnerable.... And that’s why this has to be a more than whole of government, a more than whole of nation [effort]. It really has to be a global effort....” Jen Easterly. Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency’s director in a speech Oct. 29, 2021. [CISA is our nation’s newest federal agency established by the Trump Administration in 2018]

Humans have possessed the solutions for most of our current problems/threats for thousands of years.  Unfortunately, economic, political, and technological progress spawned human hubris into believing we are separate and above nature.   Growing arrogance and scientific ignorance have blinded us into believing that democracy, national sovereignty, wealth, military power, religion, and/or selfishness would make us more secure and most things better.  Nature ignores these entrenched beliefs.  It doesn’t care what we want or what we believe.  But it does provide what we need to survive and thrive.  Ignoring or avoidance of this functional reality is literally killing us and the planetary life support systems and infrastructure that we all depend on for every aspect of our health (mind, body, spirit, economy, and government...).  This must stop if we intend to sustainably maximize our species' most cherished freedoms and security.   

In a nutshell.  We simply lack virtue and value in protecting nature and each other.

Our minds have instead chosen other priorities.  Selfish non-virtuous actions that are unsustainable at every level.   Our government’s reactionary policies and failures have fueled skyrocketing expenses in attempting to defend our artificial political borders.  Failings at this have given rise to populist leaders and growing political movements around the world.   These inward-focused policies will only fuel more global chaos and everyone’s economic and environmental bankruptcy.

Fundamentally, we suffer from truth decay.  Neil deGrasse Tyson has classified three types of truth.   The first is our personal truths.  What God we believe, or not. And the experiences or insights we have.  Second, are those we learned from our culture or political view. Concepts and ideas we have heard so many times that they must be true.  But the most valuable truths needed now are what can sustain our collective freedoms and security.  These are (in my words) ‘self-evident truths, fundamental principles, or first principles.

A profoundly wise and primary global truth is that all people are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights. Such as the right to not have a child die before their parents. And to defend one’s self and offspring from any threat. 

Consider the value of studying gravity and physics before building airplanes.  Or the value of science and  biology if one values health or space flight.

Follow the Golden Rule (the foundation of every major religion) or, expect highly undesirable consequences.  Americans were offered these truths as ”‘the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” in our Declaration of Independence.  Unfortunately, the US Constitution allows too many laws that violate both.

Abraham Lincoln wrote that the Declaration of Independence is our “Apple of Gold”.  And our Constitution its “Frame of Silver”.  Thomas Jefferson wrote that “every law and constitution” should be rewritten “every 19 years”.  Because the future belongs to the “living and not the dead”.

As the US and other nations approach election seasons, it would be wise to grasp the fact that whoever wins, will only inherit a profoundly dysfunctional government system.   A global governance system based on the United Nations charter.  Both it and most national constitutions put the protection of national sovereignty far above the protection of fundamental human rights and the environment.  There is no sane means of globally enforcing the essential list of human rights approved within the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  This profound document was created after the horrors of WWII with the intention of preventing another world war. 

We are now on the cusp of an increasingly dangerous new Cold War.  New threats of nuclear war, cyber-attacks on our elections or energy grids, more pandemics, increasing weather extremes because we failed to heed clear warnings, the increasing risk of bioterrorism, and the inevitable evolution of Artificial Intelligence.

These costly and potentially catastrophic conditions were predicted by a bipartisan Presidential Commission in 1980.  A commission on world hunger.   Its commissioners unanimously warned that ...“The most potentially explosive force in the world today is the frustrated desire of poor people to attain a decent standard of living. The anger, despair, and often hatred that result represent real and persistent threats to international order… Neither the cost to national security of allowing malnutrition to spread nor the gain to be derived by a genuine effort to resolve the problem can be predicted or measured in any precise, mathematical way. Nor can monetary value be placed on avoiding the chaos that will ensue unless the United States and the rest of the world begin to develop a common institutional framework for meeting such other critical global threats… Calculable or not...this combination of problems now threatens the national security of all countries just as surely as advancing armies or nuclear arsenals.”  They also stated “that promoting economic development in general, and overcoming hunger in particular, are tasks far more critical to the U.S. national security than most policymakers acknowledge or even believe....most Americans have been conditioned to equate national security with the strength of strategic military forces. The Commission considers this prevailing belief to be a simplistic illusion.  Armed might represents merely the physical aspect of national security. Military force is ultimately useless in the absence of the global security that only coordinated international progress toward social justice can bring.”  It specifically warned of increases in “diseases”, “international terrorism”, “war”, “environmental problems” and “other human rights problems” (refugees, genocide, human trafficking…). 

Independent government “self-interests” can no longer be more important than humanity's potential to survive and thrive in facing these accelerating threats. 

What’s urgently needed is comprehensively achieving the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  These SDGs are infinitely more accurate in measuring the wealth of nations than their GDP.  In essence, humanity would be buying the protection of fundamental human rights and the environment.  No need to rewrite Constitutions ...as important as this may be.  Just one law is needed.  Freezing and seizing the tens of trillions of dollars locked in offshore accounts by kleptocrats, oligarchs, crime cartels, violent extremist groups, and filthy rich capitalists avoiding taxes.   

Dozens of other prestigious, bipartisan studies and academic reports have followed since 1980. Each clearly documents the direct and indirect links between world hunger, human rights violations, global instability, and the growing array of other threats to our freedoms, nation’s security, economy, and political stability.

Time is not on our side. The evolution of pathogens, weapons, war, corruption, environmental distresses, growing economic disparities, and government debt burdens from reactionary policies are simply unsustainable.   Without an effective response to this fundamental truth, trust in government will continue to erode.  Things change!  The big question is...Can we? 

Everything in the known universe is made up of systems and structures that are connected, interdependent, and changing.  Artificial intelligence will eventually gain consciousness.  Human biological systems and our physically engineered systems are extremely vulnerable.  If our intelligent species fails to gain the wisdom urgently needed to live virtuously on this abundant planet.  Things will only get worse unless AI decides to hold each of us accountable for abuses of nature and each other.