It’s funny, how we’re all struggling to climb to the top. We all start the same, looking for a faster way to get there. Looking at others to see if they recognize our progress, wanting them to acknowledge us. Some find it; the faster way to the top. More of us give up along the way, we settle in our path. A few stop and turn away from the climb, they take the easy route and descend into darkness. Unlike the others, I haven’t climbed and I haven’t descended. I have been standing, watching, observing, analyzing…

Progress is result of leveraging the work of others to make something better. The issue is that it’s always an individual’s judgement of what will be better, with society weighing in afterwards. When society disapproves it’s not progress, it’s a failure or if big enough, a disaster. For example, there’s that guy who thought it would be great to bring back the dinosaurs. Look at all the scientific advances he made to get that to happen. Society says, “It’s a disaster! Dinosaurs are eating people!” Animals kill and eat people all the time. Because it’s new, society gets to weigh in with an opinion. There’s no objectivity in the measurement, it’s a reflection of mass selfishness and mob mentality. Did it hurt me, then it’s bad – if it helped me it’s good. If people will think less of me because of what I think and say, then it must be bad so I’ll agree with them.

If you really look at those who “made progress” they all ignored society and did what they thought was right anyway. History preserves the best and worst of them. Those that didn’t make a big enough stride are lost in the annals or become answers in a trivia game. So like the other big names, I am going to do what I think should be done and society can do it’s thing after I’ve finished.

Class, you have just finished reading excerpts from Doctor Genome’s journals from before he released the retrovirus that killed billions, and gave millions of us the nearly immortal bodies we now enjoy. I remind you that he gave the oceanic creatures the ability to rid their bodies of the toxic wastes humanity dumped into the seas for generations returning the oceans to healthy ecosystems. That he gave those same abilities to flora and fauna upon the land and even enhanced them so that they release either harmless or useful compounds into the environment. That nearly every plant on the planet is editable and nutritious, if not tasty, due to his efforts and no one need go hungry.

Your homework assignment is to write a paper taking a stance on “Hero or Villain” and justify it. Three hundred words or more due tomorrow at the beginning of class – Dismissed!