Evolution has produced an incomplete miracle: Homo, a species that can love, think, remember, talk, gain insight into reality, plan for the future, and produce amazing scientific knowledge and art. Unfortunately Homo still suffers from dismal weaknesses and is not yet wise enough to protect its species from ultimate demise.

To become wiser, humanity cannot count on natural selection or a revolution. Social and political institutions depend on a system of education that is imperfect. Economic development, while remarkable, is neither steady nor equitable. Technological development is often blind and burdened with unintended consequences. History is chaotic at both the national and international levels. Representative democracy, the best system of government we have invented, is fragile, vulnerable and often subject to paralysis.