The turn of a millennium has a certain excitement but also uneasy feel about it. We are forced to reflect upon the status of the human race in general, and also upon our own place in it. From one perspective, this is a great time to be alive.
Space probes return images of a universe beyond our imagination.
Science holds forth the promise of understanding the essence of nature itself, while technology eases our lives onto ever-new plateaus. Even the inevitability of the aging process itself is under question. But from another perspective, we are in a state of mass confusion. We are not confused about the manifold threats to our survival, from global warming to nuclear-armed terrorists to deadly viruses to space collisions. Our confusion pertains, rather, to the answers we seek about the meaning of our lives.