Abstract
The true wealth of humanity lies with its knowledge and tools, not with the transient control of material resources that is its monetary wealth. Nevertheless, economic growth is what sustains the growth in the wealth of knowledge and tools and innovation is the way to sustain economic growth. With every innovation and its change, though, also comes free choice and humanity must still choose whether to change the world or to change ourselves. This essays shows that humanity should steer a future to: stabilize population amount and demographics; grow the economy with productivity through innovation; shift spending from less desirable to more desirable needs with innovation; use the recursion of more knowledge and more tools to generate more innovation; choose with each innovation between changing ourselves to adapt to the world as it is or changing the world; teach our children to believe in their purpose, origin, and destiny.
Stephen Agnew