Thirty-six years of university teaching has sharpened my appreciation for the possibilities of science and technology to improve human welfare and to correct our unbalanced relationship with nature. The promise of science and technology grows monthly, especially in solar energy generation, computing power and artificial intelligence, robotics, and biotechnology and agriculture.
For these marvelous technologies to fulfill their promise, society needs to adopt and deploy them in appropriate ways, and to distribute their bounty equitably. Unfortunately the evidence suggests that society is headed in the opposite direction. Anthropogenic climate change is accelerating toward catastrophe, economic inequality is increasing, and since 2012 life expectancy in the United States has stagnated and declined. Finally, there is a clear threat to democracy that became evident in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Democracy is an essential method for implementing the improvements needed not only to avoid catastrophe, but to attain a better way of life that fulfills the promise “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” These words from the Declaration of Independence are within our grasp if we reach out and make it happen. Successfully doing this depends on human imagination and a shared vision for a better world.