It is well within our power to destroy our civilisation and perhaps our species as well if we capitulate to superstition or greed or stupidity we can plunge our world into a darkness, deeper than a time between the collapse of classical civilisation and the Italian renaissance, but we are also capable of using our compassion and our intelligence, our technology and our wealth to make an abundant and meaningful life for every inhabitant of this planet, to enhance enormously our understanding of the Universe, and to carry us to the stars.