The larger picture (#717)

It is important to understand that life is not guaranteed, even more, our reality as we know it is not guaranteed. Nothing we do as humans can guarantee most anything that physical nature and the universe we live in has in store. We are the pawns in our existence. Things have not been too bad for us humans according to our recorded history but then again we know little of our past, at least in terms of our origins and preceding cultures that have left some monuments. It is easy to take for granted our way of life in the context of seeing life through the filter of recent past generations and the present. I do it all the time, however that is not wise. At times I fail to use the technology we have developed to learn about the cause and effects of how our planet must sustain itself from the forces without. The dynamic of physics and mathematics play an important role in helping our species understand what the forces from without can do to our fragile world. We would do well to maintain a constant vigil and higher appreciation of our physical surroundings. Certainly we struggle as a species to understand and develop a way of life that highlights our attributes and forges societies that reflect the better and best of our natures but as important as our personal development as a species is, the greater concern is to protect ourselves from catastrophic extinction. I am not saying I know of such an imminent event, what I am saying is that an acute priority must be given to the vigilance of understanding our surroundings to the best of our abilities. Science offers us tools to help define parameters that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. We must take advantage of our species' ability to recognize patterns and the physics that accompany them. The larger picture needs our most sober attention, otherwise everything else may very well be for naught.