Progress or destruction

First, may I take this opportunity to wish the staff of The Jakarta Post and all its readers a very happy New Year. Hopefully, this year shall see an improvement in the degree of peace and prosperity for all Indonesians everywhere.

Now that we find ourselves living in the 21st century many of us may have pondered for a moment how the world may look in another 100 years. Advances in the fields of science, technology and medicine during the 20th century have had such an impact on our lives that we can even expect increased longevity in comparison to that of our forefathers earlier in the century. Provided that the conditions remain favorable to allow for the expansion of human knowledge, the changes that will take place during our new century shall indeed be enormous.

But, upon pondering these evolutionary developments, I could not help myself from wondering whether or not the human race will still be around in another 100 years, given the ongoing tendency of nations to over-compete and squabble with one another.

It must now surely be up to the nations of this world and their representative leaders to avert disaster in order to ensure the survival of the human race and other species. For unless we can overcome our bloated senses of national pride and place national pride in its rightful second place to a sense of greater world pride, this century shall continue to be marked by wars and further degradation of the environment, in all probability to the point of no return.

ROBIN PETER HOLMAN

Sanur, Bali