the human race is a 6.5-billion-headed, fractious, selfish, competitive, short-sighted, arrogant, acquisitive species with random streaks here and there of wisdom, compassion and vision.

Cascadia Lin wrote:
This was a better result than I expected. Imagine trying to negotiate a consensus business deal with nearly 200 competitive corporate CEOs, with varying degrees of power, hidden and overt agendas, business needs, personalities, constituencies, histories, expectations, and clout. Then turn those business people into heads of state representing entire populations, some of them democratic, others theocratic or socialist, some involved in civil war, others in wars of aggression against others at the table, some of them with healthy economies, some of them starving and hopeless, speaking a multitude of different languages. Mix in the clamor from outside economic, environmental, scientific and social interest groups from all parts of the political spectrum, all trying to be heard above the rest. The fact that anything at all came from this process is a miracle.

The fact that it was woefully inadequate is a shame, and simply reflects the fact that the human race is a 6.5-billion-headed, fractious, selfish, competitive, short-sighted, arrogant, acquisitive species with random streaks here and there of wisdom, compassion and vision. For better or worse, no one can speak for all of us, and the democratic institution of the United Nations is the best we can hope for at our current stage of evolution. Maybe we can evolve swiftly enough to save ourselves and our planet. Maybe not. This is a collective cosmic intelligence test and so far, we are not doing very well.
December 19, 2009 2:17 AM GMT
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