The air is thinner on this soapbox, so I'll get to it.  Technological civilization has lied. It has long been an American myth that we are leading the rest of the world toward a better life.  But our interests have served us in a way the third world can never expect.  With 5% of the population we use more than 30% of the available industrial resources.  To raise the standards of the world to our level we would have to speed up the harvest of these resources six times annually, or find six new planets to plunder.
           Americans enjoy the most comfortable and convenient living standards worldwide--but we have achieved that success through the systematic pursuit of any technological resource without regard to the cost in human life or environmental balance. Progress is an insatiable monster that can never achieve fulfillment. Technologists assert that new discoveries will save us before the finite resources of Earth are exhausted.  These are the kind of people who buy lotto tickets expecting to win.
            The truth is that we have created a world of fantasy which pretends that we can continue this lifestyle indefinitely.  That is because western civilization does not think ahead beyond a generation or two.  American indigenous people are looking ahead toward seventh generations on end.  What will be our legacy to them?
            As we sit comfortably in a world of plenty, remember that 75 percent of the rest of the world is lacking nutritious food, shelter, or a safe place to sleep.  We could help them but our system of economics and corporate profit (which controls science), will never allow it to happen.  Count your blessings.  Some future generation will face the reality.