On October the 4th, 1957 Sputnik brought in a new era. Now fifty years later man has been to the moon, a space station orbits the earth and all kinds of gismos are circling planets to see what they have cooking. We have satellites, which are so sophisticated that they can read a license plate. Some of us are running around with implants no bigger than a grain of rice that can pinpoint where we are, and most likely transmit information if we're cooking up anything big brother feels he should know about.
The rate of change is increasing so rapidly that it's becoming critical. New innovations come on stream before the human mind and body, which can handle only so much before it breaks down, has mastered the current semantics. Even to program a telephone takes pages of instruction when you finally find a language you can read. Answering machines are getting so sophisticated that you can call home from Lower Slobovia to hear a message you missed; providing you programmed it correctly before you left.
Even as few as fifty years ago, very little of the world even dreamt of what it would be like today. Considering the increasing rate of change, where knowledge allegedly doubles every eighteen months, we'll be too big for our breeches by 2057---if wisdom doesn't keep pace, it's doubtful if we'll be able safely handle the mind-boggling technology we'll have by then.
'I can build a bigger bomb than you can' syndrome has to end soon or it could plunge the whole planet into nuclear war ending all civilization on earth. Any countries that continue on this path of insane madness will be the masters of our total destruction. I don't believe for a moment that all this killing power is for defense. How many nuclear bombs does a country need for "defense" when they know they can't use them without destroying themselves?
When it becomes of such an enormity, there is no defense left. One hit and we're all out, if not instantly then through a slow and painful death from radiation, when the flesh will rot on your bones. It's not a question of if, but when.
