Flourish in the Future
Cosmology as Inspiration
The goal of this website is to present the Epic of Evolution in ways that help you make sense of the past so that you can find solutions and inspiration for creating a flourishing future. Learning about our magnificent 14 billion year journey can expand your sense of possibility, helping you imagine and create the life of your dreams. This amazing story of the past enlarges our imaginations with creative new possibilities for the future.
When I first started this Epic of Evolution website in 2005, this goal seemed beyond possibility. For starters, in 2005, most people didn’t accept or understand biological evolution. Second, more than 20% of the people on the planet lived in extreme poverty. Third, most people assumed the world was getting worse because they were unaware of the huge advancements in human progress that have occurred over the past 200 years.
Big, Hairy,
Audacious Goal
By the year 2023, 23 percent of the world’s population is exploring an inspirational, evolutionary cosmology that helps them celebrate the present and create a flourishing future.
Sixteen years later, so much has changed.
In the past 15 years, thanks to the Internet, scientific data is available to most people on the planet. As a result, today, over 80% of Americans, acknowledge the science of evolution. Not only does evolution explain how humans and species came to be, the evolution explains how our universe came to be and how our planet changes over time. Evolution also explains our psychology, our culture, our appetites.
While many people continue to struggle, for most people, life is better than it was 15 years ago. Today, fewer than 10% of all people live in extreme poverty. While this is tragic for each of these people, the positive trajectory out of poverty offers them real hope that they will see the end of extreme poverty in their lifetime.
Since 2005, a slew of authors have written books and produced websites highlighting Human Progress, the Great Enrichment, and how Innovation is responsible for this progress. This documented progress offers a sense of rational optimism that inspires millions.
If you listen to the news, it may seem that life has gotten much worse. Although problems seem much bigger now than they did 20 years ago, the truth is, our awareness of the problems is bigger.
And this awareness, while painful, can be great news. “You can’t clean the kitchen unless you see the dirt.”
Sadly, hyperfocus on bad news has paralyzed many with fear. For those who look at actual data, they see progress, which inspires hope.
The science that informs the Epic of Evolution helps us create solutions to our biggest challenges, like enriching billions who live in poverty, finding solutions to infectious disease, preventing super-volcanos or meteor strikes, and optimizing the climate. By understanding what works, we can ensure freedom for all people and create a sustainable and flourishing paradise on Earth and beyond.
Imagine
The human imagination is a powerful creative force, one that has altered the future of life on this planet. The scientific method reveals an evolutionary epic that inspires our imagination to create epic solutions
To create a flourishing future, we much first imagine that future. And a great way to imagine a flourishing future is to understand what creates the best of this present moment.
by Cathy McGowan Russell, 2005, 2009, 2019, 2021
“The problem of survival is not fundamentally technological. It is spiritual and moral. It is evolutionary.” ~ David Grinspoon
“The epic of evolution is science translated into meaningful story.” ~ Connie Barlow
“Our human destiny is integral with the destiny of the earth.” ~ Thomas Berry
“If you study an old-fashioned television screen up close, you’ll see dots of different colors dancing in front of your eyes. You’ll think you are looking at chaos. But stand back, and you will see a picture full of meaning. Something like this happens over and over again as we study the past. Stand too close to the details and it’s hard to see anything but the idiosyncratic actions of individual human beings. Big history helps us stand back from the details and see the patterns. By doing so, it can transform our ideas of what history is about.”
~ David Christian
“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” ~ Winston Churchill
“As the first truly global creation story, the evolutionary epic has the potential to unite rather than to divide humanity.” ~ David Christian
“Evolution is neither random nor predetermined, but rather an intelligent dance between organism and environment.” ~ Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman
“After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?” ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson
“Without a meaningful evolutionary worldview it’s impossible to understand yourself, your world, or what’s needed for humanity to survive and thrive in the coming decades.” ~ Michael DowdThe goal of the Epic of Evolution is to “inspire grateful service to the enduring promise of life on the planet.” ~ Loyal Rue
“Our minds have been built by selfish genes, but they have been built to be social, trustworthy, and cooperative.” ~ Matt Ridley
“The stories of evolution have the power to unite all peoples.” ~ Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan
“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution” ~ Theodosius Dobzhansky
“It has taken millions of years to make preparations for what we are now to accomplish in this one lifetime. . . . such is the amazement of GOD’s hand . . . known to us as evolution”. ~ Guru Singh
“There is grandeur in this view of life.” ~ Charles Darwin
“I find the epic of evolution, from the “Hot Big Bang” to Homo sapiens, an illumination of how the Creator God is and has been creating.” ~ Arthur Peacocke, Biochemist and Priest