Abstract
Alfred Nobel’s legacy might guide us to the appropriate perspective: The past cannot be steered. Nobel regretted the military use of his inventions. The five prizes he set up in his last will reflect his insights that mankind as a whole can and must achieve a better command of Nature for the benefit of a more responsible human society. Nobel decided, let be no prize in mathematics. Wasn’t he prudent? The Nobel Prize Committee did not award Einstein a prize for his theory of relativity. Was their decision wrong? Why did most horrible crimes against humanity happen in the last century? How can progress in science and technology achieve lasting peace and social progress to the better? Honest answers to such questions may be unwelcome to authorities who are teaching futile speculative models, denial of causality, religious dogmas, naïve patriotism, heroism, and putatively ideal social systems. Humanity is doomed to replace the natural balance of population by hunger, diseases, and wars with intelligent innovations. This requires readiness to modify seemingly basic principles. Humanity must cope with its own behavior. Leaving a destroyed earth is no option.
Eckard Blumschein