I have been vexed by conversations that talk about the future as if it were 1960 and the future is more wealth health and a larger house.  So I have turned back to  reading the Greek plays. The Greeks are known for facing life directly. If we turned from appreciation of the Greek achievement to asking how would the Greeks see things now, we can return to philosophy and the profound Greek questions. Who am I,  how should I live?

Human life ends in either of two ways.  Natural  catastrophe – asteroid or volcanic winter or plague. Or that we kill each other with large and small weapons in dwindling food and habitat.

We like to think we can ignore the “long distant future” but the realty of these futures are already and  increasingly pressing in  on us and it is important to help ourselves and our children and other future generations live in this looming  shadow.  Some starting positions: “Love it while it lasts”, ” or “work to keep humanity going  full speed”  engaged in partnership  with technology, understanding that the long term future is known but the intermediate futures are not.

How then should we live?