But what is the greater goal of human beings? What is humanity's purpose for bringing about the changes and advancement we have done?
Some parts of the answer to these questions we already seem to know. But not so much the answer to "what to do" so much as the answer to "what not to do". Some lines we seem convinced never to cross back. There are some things that we seem to have already collectively determined as wrong or unethical. And these things we have determined as such for strong reasons.
For instance, we seem to have accepted our collective right to clean air and clean water because these resources know no boundaries and polluting them in one place will pollute them in other places. Our experience with the ravages of plagues in the past seem to have brought us to an understanding that taking care of our environment is a must for us to flourish. In any case, it seems easier for us to understand what is right and what is wrong when it comes to our physical safety.
But what is right and wrong when it comes to our psychological safety? Are there lines we will come to learn to never cross back in this sense when the evidence start coming in of the untold harm some our actions have done to our collective and personal psychological welfare?
In my view, the past century of rapid industrial and technological advancement have come to address a lot of our physical concerns, thus most of our collective development have been in the physical domain. But I think in this next century, the rapid advancement we will create and live with will ultimately address our evolving psychological and mental needs. As such, most of our collective development as human beings will happen in the mental and psychological domain.
Psychology as a discipline will play an important role, but it is not itself the answer. It is simply a tool for us to find the answers and solutions we are seeking for. The question then remains: What is the goal of human beings? What is humanity's purpose for bringing about the changes and advancement we have done? It may be easier to get at an answer when we consider it in the physical sense, but this time we must also try to come up with an answer with regards to the psychological sense. And while it is difficult to fully determine the answer to these essential questions, it is still important to ask them. Because the tools human beings invent to search for answers or find solutions will never be themselves the answer or the solution. Any tool we invent will need a clear direction in which it will be used for.
