New Modes of Thinking
By David Krieger|June 17, 2019
“The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” ~Albert Einstein
This is a prescient warning to humanity from the greatest scientist of the 20th century, the individual who conceived of the enormous power that could be released from the atom.
What did Einstein mean?
It may seem like a simple statement, but it is an extraordinarily formidable challenge.
Nuclear weapons require us to awaken to the possibility of human extinction.
They require us to put away our old ways of thinking, rooted in selfishness, greed, injustice, nationalism and violence.
They require us to see everyone as a member of the human family, and to treat them accordingly.
They require us to value life and to refuse to kill.
They require us to consign war to the dustbin of history.
They require us to seek justice and human rights for all.
They require us to recognize we share one rare and precious planet, the only one we know of in the universe that supports life.
They require us to place humanity above country or tribe.
They require us to stretch for higher moral purpose and values to deal effectively with our technological prowess, not only as it applies to nuclear technologies, but also to artificial intelligence, climate chaos and other forms of environmental degradation.
They require us to politically engage on behalf of humanity and our children’s future.
They require us, as difficult as it may be, to put the nuclear genie back in the bottle and to keep it there.
