If we can rise to this challenge, if we can develop the educational base to build a global civilization, if we can harness technology to our highest purposes rather than be harnessed by it, we can create tremendous opportunities for a more highly educated citizenry, for greater economic progress, and for political understanding and cooperation around the world. Like all paradigm shifts, this will require us to leave behind some of the security of our old views. We will have to give up some of the comfortable dichotomies of the past, and some of our feeling of security, at least in the short run. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
This move into a global civilization is a daring adventure. We may also achieve some wonderful surprises along the way. The Apollo mission to the moon was initially a technological challenge, but it ultimately gave us a deeper understanding of our potential and a new view of ourselves. Similarly, the emergence of the global village has initially been a business and technological challenge. But now we are developing a new sense of ourselves as a world civilization, a deeper foundation for our progress, and a richer, more powerful education for the future.