Answer:
Civilization is a thin and fragile layer.
If we care about the future of humanity (i.e. preventing a self-inflicted apocalypse), we have a personal moral obligation to be technologically and scientifically literate.
Modern societies are entirely dependent upon the uninterrupted functioning of extraordinarily complex systems.
Infrastructure, energy, food production, transportation, communications, manufacturing…all technologically endowed, are more efficient and powerful than ever before.
But it’s not the most resilient.
We’ve built civilization upon pillars of scientific and technological advances, but it’s become very easy to take them for granted- turning a blind eye as they weather and erode from lack of maintenance.
Most things seem to work just fine without requiring our daily attention and contribution.
The are so many humans it’s easy to start assuming that someone has things under control. It enables a kind of willful ignorance and social loafing of knowledge.
The effects of our actions are hard to conceptualize, and no snowflake feels responsible for the avalanche. Society is the most complex, interconnected, and interdependent it’s ever been.
#CarryOnLearning
