The reason for writing Destiny is to share my perspectives about critical aspects of human experience from our history and our present, with the hope that those perspectives might be used to advance the human race. Advancement to where? Advancement to what? How? Why? Those are the key questions.

Destiny is a challenging book for those with cognitive ability sufficient to formulate and grasp the importance of the fundamental questions about existence. How did we get here? Why? Do we have a destiny? What is our destiny as individuals and as a species? What are our collective and individual roles in advancing towards our destiny?

The Destiny thesis is twofold. First, our development since the beginning of recorded history has been very slow and non-linear. That is consistent with our limited individual abilities to learn and retain relevant facts, understand the implications of those facts, and effectively apply those implications to ensuring our survival and to developing our species. Second, the rise and fall of civilizations has been repeated numerous times but does not need to be repeated going forward.

There is no guarantee of substantive progress as we experience the next millennium, unless we promote profound improvements in the mental prowess and physical health of the human animal, and thus direct our evolution. The challenges, of course, are to define the means to evolve and to develop the necessary support to cause that to happen.

Destiny is about fundamental change in our understanding of ourselves, in the sense of who we were, who we are, where we are going and how to get there. Destiny is my compilation and interpretation of the ideas and experiences from our past and present and my personal view about our present and our future. I hope you feel empowered and challenged after reading Destiny.

J W