Science has not yet mastered prophecy. We predict too much for the next year and yet far too little for the next 10. It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
Science cuts two ways, of course; its products can be used for both good and evil. But there’s no turning back from science. The early warnings about technological dangers also come from science. To be the first to enter the cosmos, to engage, single-handed, in an unprecedented duel with nature—could one dream of anything more?