A very profound article. I have been thinking and reading recently about certainty, especially scientific certainty. Most scientific certainty iis being based on agreement, not scientific research. Even in scientific research, observation and measurement, the foundational elements, it is becoming obvious to me, are based on assertions of 'experts', who depend on their students to accept their assertions as facts and tailor their (the studects') further research to the assertions they have accepted from their teachers. Social Science, including psychiachiatry and sociology, depend almost totally on opinions, gathered and manipulated in unscientific ways, in aparent disregard to the scientists' deeply flawed techniques. We are not only trained liars, we let ourselves be led by trained liars. We are taught from the cradle that there are no absolutes and there is no Absolute, and we are taught to live and act with that very absolute lie.

The biggest reason why our future has been commandeered is, the devil tempted mankind into sin, and mankind fell for it, and is still falling for it today.

The second reason is that people are not accepting the fact that God created a way out through His Son Jesus, and the work Jesus did on the cross, and His Resurrection.

The third reason is that people will not stand up as men and women. Freedom's Phoenix has some people of strength behind it. And there are lots of other organizations that have people of strength behind them. Thy often lose, however. And this brings us to the 4th reason.

The fourth reason is that people are ignorant. Freedom's Phoenix may have people who stand up as men and women, but they often, at least allow the preaching of Government, without adding the preaching about understanding what Government is. Government is men and women. And there is nothing in all creation that allows men and women of Government stand up and harm any other men and women, if those being harmed stand up and DO their own Government.

If a Government is winning, and if we don't like the things it is doing, it's about time that we change it by using its own tactics, if necessary, to change it. This takes knowledge and understanding of the things that makes a strong Government strong. The thing that often makes our more righteous Government weak is lack of knowledge and understanding - ignorance

Now, Paul, dear, that is just a bit too pessimistic. We do indeed live in very dangerous times. Most people love war, there are environmental catastrophes looming from GMOs and poison-based agriculture (NOT from the possibility of a Climate Optimum) and some of the weapons I have read about...shudder! But there is also a new culture rising, strong hope of truly beating all the swords into plowshares (so to speak), and the end of aging. The first rejuvenations have already begun. It is assuredly The End of the Age. But the New Age could be a glorious wonder, if enuf of us choose that.

Consider the following excerpt from page 1 of Moby Dick, circa 1851: But these are all landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster— tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks. Also, consider this excerpt from Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End" circa 1953 (aired in a 3-part series on the SyFy channel just last week): There was little work left of a routine, mechanical nature. Men’s minds were too valuable to waste on tasks that a few thousand transistors, some photo-electric cells, and a cubic meter of printed circuits could perform. Such was the possible future envisioned by Clarke, even in the 1950's. Ernest often complains, "Where is my flying car?!" Good point. My lament is, "Where's all the leisure time?!" (Oddly enough, leisure time is a human right according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - so much for anybody in power observing charters!) With the advent of petroleum and the electric motor, the hands of human individuals are freed of endless menial toil. Before these technologies (electric motor gained wide application in 1888 or so), 85% of people did something that a motor can do. They powered a rake, or a hoe, or a sewing machine - anybody besides me ever see a foot-powered sewing machine? Grandma pumped a peddle to power the thing while she sewed! So what are those supposedly freed-up hands doing instead? They're working in the war machine. And endless cycle of production and destruction, like a snake eating its own tail. This Merry-Go-'Round (maybe I should call it a Carousel to avoid the word "Merry") ride is at least predictable, and thus manageable. But progress is not possible. Progress toward what Rosenberg describes in the 2nd paragraph is not possible under these conditions: We have more than enough technology to be living among the stars, to fill every hungry mouth on the planet, and to meet nearly every human need. Fifty years ago, if you asked for directions in South Louisiana, the first words you'd hear were always, "You can't get there from here. First, you gotta' go over there . . ." So if you can't get to the future described by Rosenberg's 2nd paragraph, where do you gotta' go first?! DC Treybil