Come my friends, ‘tis not too late to seek a newer world- Tennyson

Tennyson encourages us all as a society and as individuals to collectively seek a new world. He values ambition and drive which does not accept the state of the world, but actively seeks to change it. Time is an important aspect here in revealing the facts about embracing change. Another factor is the innate human desire for progress which can be modelled by the scientific process. In a broader sense, however, the society at large suffers from a collective myopia which prevents it from seeking a new world and often it takes movements or disasters to awaken us from the stupor of the mundane.

One aspect of time addressed her is that it is constant and unending. Hence, human society will never cease in embracing change and proactively instigating it in their lives. Those who refuse to change are often view with pity as other will say they lack the foresight to enjoy another world. As time progresses, various barriers arise that challenge the advancement of society. A good case in point is the since forgotten threat of Bird Flu which could still affect people on a pandemic scale. Such an outbreak is justifiably feared in the threat it poses to the progress of humanity. In the sense that is it never too late, it often require people to challenge their idleness and surmount their self image to embrace change. Steven Herrick writes poem after poem on stories of amelioration because of the desire for a newer world. It is quite clear that with unlimited time, progress is inevitable.

The scientific process can often be divorced from its societal role. Aldous Huxley once asserted that the scientific process and its pursuit of knowledge is an ethical activity. Thus, scientists around the world are perennially involved in the progress of humanity, in seeking another world as it were. Where science can fail, however, is on the basis of communication of facts and discoveries to the society which remains largely ignorant of the significance of their work. As the media often quips, 2006 was the year that politicians and governments around the world discovered global warming. The exasperating issue here is that scientists have warned of these global-scale threats since the early 1980s. The disparity between observation and communicating the threats to thw world indicates an inner unwillingness to seek a new world until absolutely necessary. It may well be the case that global warming may still be combated with incumbent technologies, but it highlights the human condition of idleness that plagues and punishes society.

The mundane or the status quo is a prevalent aspect of Western society. Ironically, progress exists alongside an acceptance of how things are and the notion of change is often an odious voice, that we persecute those who pronounce it. George Bush senior addressing the Earth Summit stated that the “American way of life is not negotiable”. Now, although this statement may be exactly what the public wants to hear, it does nothing to acknowledge the shared heritage and future of our planet. Indeed, such intransigence is an enemy to the need and right of people to seek a new world. As society moves towards the 22^nd century, one must not be fooled in thinking that things will always remain the same. Our planet has a history of altered powers and social directions and it would be myopic to ignore that.

It is quite clear that seeking a new world is a timely and necessary pursuit. What must be overcome is the societal-inertia and mindset that things remain the same. The role science has to play is in better liasing with the public and seeing itself as an ethical pursuit. Finally, our leaders must realise the danger of soporific policies that ignore the common future of humanity.