In 1651, Philosopher Thomas Hobbes wrote that in his observation, the life of the common man was, "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
He was not exaggerating.
In all previous history, the majority of human beings lived their lives
as subsistence farmers. The average life span was less than 30 years.
There were no doctors or dentists. There were no cures for most diseases,
nor reliable repairs for injuries.
Most people were uneducated and illiterate. Neither drinking water nor
waste were processed under sanitary conditions. There were no roads, only
rough trails. The only libraries were in religious institutions. Monarchs
and tyrants dominated political life. The diet was not nutritious; famine
was a common occurrence. Only a rough outline of humanity resided in the
short duration of life, and was for many, all too rapidly extinguished.
But at the end of the 18th century, a new age of enlightenment began to take hold. With steam engines, factories, canals, world trade, well ordered cities, and a burst of scientific discoveries, the average human being for the first time began to assume in the majority, the aspect of a full human person. With the discovery of sources of efficient energy, electricity and oil became powerful instruments for the realization of the cornucopia of material prosperity that has made our contemporary culture possible.
Now our life,
the affluence that makes it possible for us as a people to grasp the atom
and reach for the stars, is threatened. The energy and material resources
that sustained us and fueled our growth over the last 150 years are coming
to an end. We have done little to prepare.
Join with us and help our society, state, nation, world and species maintain
the growth of our humanity that gives us meaning, pleasure, and purpose.
