Truly an endless frontier. We today perceive the opportunities only dimly. Our knowledge of human health and behavior is likely to reach the point where we are in command throughout the entire life span. Success requires progress on the social and ethical aspects at a pace comparable to advance in our technical knowledge. But there are important cautions.
Matters can go wrong, dreadfully wrong.
Perhaps the biggest risks are war, undisciplined population growth, and irreversible environmental damage to the globe. The two most important potential causes of war are intolerance and the growing disparity in wealth and human welfare. Technical advances or even more astonishing weapons of war that will surely come will not eliminate these causes. And if the world's population grows more rapidly than our collective ability to manage our social and economic well-being, the dangers of war and violence are even greater. The environmental danger is different.