Quotes from Radical Evolution

by Joel Garreau

     We are at an inflection point in history.
          - p 6

     The next frontier is our own selves.
          - p 6

     Today the story is no less attitude-adjusting. It is about the defining cultural, social and political issue of our age. It is about human transformation.

     The inflection point at which we have arrived is one in which we are increasingly seizing the keys to all creation, as astonding as that might seem.
          - p 11

     The future is already here; it's just not evenly distributed.
          - p 15

     The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
          - p 88

     In 1920 [H.G. Wells] described human history as becoming more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
          - p 109

     It is time to rekindle the spirit of the Renaissancee to achieve a golden age that will be a turning point for human productivity and quality of life.
          - p 112

     The hallmark of the Renaissance was its holistic quality as all fields of art, engineering, science and culture shared the same exciting spirit and many of the same intellectual principles.
          - p 114

     The Harvard Law of Animal Behavior holds that under controlled experimental conditions of temperature, time, lighting, feeding, and training, the organism will behave as it damn well pleases.
          - p 153

     Informing all of Carson's work was the idea that although human beings are part of nature, we are distinguished by our power to alter it irreversibly.
          - p 154

     Humankind's constant effort to fix its shortcomings is what drives human history.
          - p 161

     If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, and a sign on it saying, "End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE TO NOT TOUCH," the paint wouldn't even have time to dry.
          - p 167

     The physician who waits until dead certain of a diagnosis before acting is likely to wind up with a dead patient. Sometimes things develop so rapidly that only early action--back when you're still somewhat uncertain--stands a chance of being effective, as in catching cancer before it metastasizes.
          - p 183

     Swarmers run the risk of skittering like water bugs on the surface of life. By being quickly and constantly connected, they can avoid deep contact in time-consuming and meaningful ways... You're flitting from one place to another. You're more likely to pursue superficial engagements rather than deep pursuits. It contributes to this certain MTV approach to life where you engage in something for a few minutes and then there's a commercial... You have to get a grip on reality. Unless you know what is real--what is a real friendship and relationship--neither can have an effect on you.
          - p 219

     In order for the Prevail Scenario to work ... you will have to have a world in which you have both differences between people and opportunities for intense connectedness.
          - p 220

     We are called to be the architects of the future, not its victims.
          - p 234

     There are three levels of happiness: the pleasant life, the good life, and the meaningful life.

     There is one thing we know about meaning, that meaning consists in attachment to something bigger than you are. The larger the thing that you can credibly attach yourself to, the more meaning you get out of life.

     The theory of meaning says that joining and serving in things larger than you that you believe in while using your highest strengths is a recipe for meaning.
         - p 260-1

     Someday after mastering winds, waves, tides and gravity, we shall harness the energies of love, and then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will discover fire.
          - p 262

     The essence of being human is being creative.
          - p 263

     Transcendence is the only real alternative to extinction. This is serious. This may be the ultimate final exam.
          - p 265

[note: page numbers from the Doubleday edition published in 2005]


Notes From Windward - Index - Vol. 67