Crossroads of a Civilization

      Right now we are on the brink of what could arguably be one of the most important times in all of human history.  In a short amount of time we will either thrive and evolve, or digress and decay.  Both outcomes are equally plausible so far as I can see.  We’re getting the harsh lesson now that the way we’ve been living is not sustainable in terms of both the environment and the economy.  We have been outliving our boundaries and only now we’re starting to pay for it. 
      Right now the western philosophy is only applicable to a world with unlimited resources.  The people consume goods, the companies sell them these goods and the government governs both of them.  This system’s source, its lifeblood is the natural resources we harvest from our humble earth.  When these resources run out or become unattainable the structure of society must either adapt or perish. 
      Currently the main natural resource humanity is running off of is oil.  The global population has been steadily increasing for thousands of years.  Along its incline it has spiked along with human advancements.  These are such things as steam, electricity and most notably the production of oil.

http://gumption.org/1993/memo/landmarks/world_population.html
         
      As you can see the world population has dramatically increased with the discovery of the means to produce oil.  Now by applying the theory of physics we can see that this spike is most likely going to eventually come back down.  The population went up with oil, and it will come back down when we run out of it.  The extent and severity to which this crash happens will depend solely on human ingenuity.
      The human ingenuity I’m talking about is the kind that just recently has found out ways of engineering body parts.  That’s right, major schools around the world have been competing with methods of stem cell research replicate body parts.  Google it.  Basically they take the relevant genetics from certain animals with the qualities they desire and they use computers and advanced methods of bioengineering to produce regenerative tissue.
      The human ingenuity I’m talking about is the kind that just recently produced a robot with dog-like capabilities.  Youtube it.  Search “Boston Dynamics BigDog Robot” and be astounded.  This robot/dog walks, maneuvers and even jumps like a real dog.  When you kick it it repositions itself just like a real dog would.  It can carry up to 350 pounds and is being manufactured for the military.  1984 anyone?  The human ingenuity I’m talking about is the kind of ingenuity that has gotten humanity through some of the toughest times in history. 
      Life itself is a highly improbable thing.  We are the outcome of several billion years of accidents in nature.  I mean galactic events like meteors crashing into each other, then disintegrating, then reconstituting over millions of years through gravitational pull.  I mean global events that wipe out almost all of a specie’s population except for those with the fortunate genetic mutations.
      Maybe it’s these universal catastrophes that are necessary for all life to evolve and continue.  A constant testing by natural forces or some god-like entity, whichever you prefer, just to see if we’re still paying attention.  If we aren’t then we’re in for devastation.  While the losses will come either way, if we remain ever so vigilant and ready for change then we will emerge a better race for it.