TENS OF thousands of years ago a Stone-Age family was hiding in a hole in the ground, cold, tired and hungry.
Then a spark of hope appeared and one of them thought “why don’t we use our brains and make life better for ourselves”? They began to analyse what is going wrong and why, and what they could do about it. Thus was born the scientific method that has enabled us to progress from a hole in the ground, up and into the realm of the stars.
So much of the progress we have made is now taken for granted and science has lost much of its value from many people. There has been a rise in pseudo science with all sorts of weird ideas about the world about we live in, and how to fix it, but in the end the results come from clear thinking and logical action.
We currently have a crisis of oil-based fuel supplies and food prices, both of which are entirely artificial due to multiple factors, none of which should be allowed to harm the health, wealth and happiness of the human race. We have the brains to overcome any obstacle and to put right any wrong. The worst crisis humanity could suffer from is a failure of courage and imagination. We have only just begun our journey of discovery in the universe, our future is waiting for us and the choice is ours, onwards and upwards or back into the hole in the ground.
Here at the Astronomical Observatory of Tavira we try our best to open people’s minds and allow their imagination to expand and to think clearly about the past, present and future. A role we can play in the creation of a better life for the planet and ourselves.
