RICHARD FERNANDEZ: “A civilization at a decision point is almost by definition walking the razor’s edge between two futures. One future may lead to a catastrophe whose survivors must begin again from scratch. The other choice leads to a radical improvement in the human standard of living and greater potential for all. It would seem an easy choice. But the characteristic of a system in institutional crisis, which along with the lack of new energy sources and a failure of public education create our ‘world in disarray,’ is that the right choice is impossible to make.”