Three score years and ten... now it's four.. almost - the human life span, more or less. Relative to ants, flies and dogs it's a long time. We get to do "stuff" - research, thinking, writing - all the exciting things which make life meaningful. We pass on our understanding and learning from one generation to the next which allows for progress, increasing populations, to learn more stuff, peer into the furtherest places of the universe. And this is good. Except for one thing. We're f**** up the planet which actually supports us as a life form. We are killing the very process which has allowed us to develop in the first place. And we are so intent on our own importance, our reptilian drive to survive that we're killing ourselves. The process is written into our DNA. Replicate or die. We could avoid extinction by using the intellectual part of our brains. We could control our population, stop burning fossil fuels, preserve our ecosystems worldwide, stop putting trash and harmful chemicals into the environment... or perhaps colonize another planet. The richest of us clearly have that in mind. In the meantime.... our Titanic is holed, water is coming in but the orchestra plays bravely on.