A badly damaged flag recovered from the World Trade Center debris is displayed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, the nation's official repository for September 11 materials, in Washington, Thursday. [AP]
Ιn the 25 years since the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, humanity has been caught in the vortex of a multidimensional crisis from which there seems to be no escape. We see provocations such as those of al Qaeda on September 11, 2001, in the United States, and of Hamas on October 7, 2023, in Israel, provoking reactions that worsen the situation beyond the wildest dreams of those who wished to sow destruction.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, did not prompt an overwhelming, universal outcry. On the contrary, it was an opportunity for many countries – and for political forces within countries – to bank on division. (Even in the pandemic we managed to split our societies between rationalists and anti-vaxxers). The rampaging colossus of AI does not seem to worry many about humanity’s future. Even the tragedy wrought by the climate crisis on Nepal and Tibet on August 26 will not bridge the chasm between those who worry about the planet’s future and those who don’t care.
