Think of the human race, the human genome, as an aeroplane full of people.

This plane has many

passengers, many crew and many pilots. Pilots, supported by some members of crew and
passengers, all want to take the plane in different directions. Throughout the course of this flight
(history), and up to its present point, these pilots have been busily beating on each other, stealing
each others seats, and generally jostling to put their weight against the heavy yoke that steers the
plane. Some pilots arent even in the cockpit, but trying jump ship entirely (North Korea). The
strange thing is that though we notice this going on we tend to have the deep down conviction that
someone is flying the plane. No one is flying the plane, it stays in the air because not enough pilots
have yet pushed in such a ways as to make it crash though there have been a number of close calls.
The collective destiny of our species is not under control; where we arrive, we arrive by accident of
history, the consequence of the competition of different designs and plans. Unfortunately the
individuals on the plane have gotten both stronger/fatter and more closely bound to one another.
This means that when pilots push on the yoke the direction of the plane changes more dramatically.
A crash and a smaller number of survivors are therefore more likely.
An aeroplane gets to its destination safely and efficiently because, though they may all think and feel
many different ways about many different things, its occupants tacitly agree on the planes goal and
the general rules of inflight behaviour. Our aeroplane is in trouble.